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By Prince Golez, Manila Reporter
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Monday, May 1, 2017
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MANILA – Sen. Risa Hontiveros said the unlawful detention of 12 drug suspects in Manila Police’s secret detention cell only confirms the “abusive” and “exploitative” ways of the government’s war on drugs.
The existence of the hidden jail cell found behind a bookshelf at the Manila Police District Station 1 in Tondo, Manila is “unconstitutional,” Hontivetos said.
“It is a throwback to Marcosian times. It is also eerily similar to the secret detention cells of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp,” she added.
According to her, the secret police cell in Tondo violates jail management standards under any Form of Detention or Imprisonment and the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.
“It is an ideal atmosphere for rape and other forms of sexual abuse as both men and women are detained in the same facility,” Hontiveros said.
“It also creates the perfect climate for illegal arrests and incarceration, enforced disappearances and torture.”
Sen.Paolo Benigno Aquino IV added that the policemen behind the secret jail should be held accountable for their “unacceptable” actions.
“Kailangan itong maimbestigahan at matigil,” Aquino said.
The government, he said, must be serious about penalizing erring policemen to stop them from abusing their power.
“As the government’s enforcement arm in its war against illegal drugs, the Philippine National Police should safeguard public’s trust by ensuring that scalawag policemen are punished accordingly,” Aquino said.
For his part, Sen. Francis Pangilinan said that President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war will fail if issues of police abuse are not addressed.
“The matter should be investigated thoroughly and wrongdoers swiftly punished,” Pangilinan said.
The lawmaker also cited several other police crimes such as the kidnap-slay of Jee Ick-Joo and the Rolando Espinosa Sr. rubout case.
“If this systematic pattern of abuse is not addressed, I am afraid the war on drugs will fail in its objective of ridding the nation of illegal drugs and instead succeed in spreading lawlessness, police corruption, and abuse,” he concluded./PN
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