(Eagle News) — The Philippine National Police on Saturday, June 22, reiterated there was never a police policy to kill drug suspects in anti-illegal drug operations.
PNP spokesperson Senior Supt. Benigno Durana issued the statement, following the call of 38 states for the Philippines to put a halt to the supposed killings, and for it to collaborate in a United Nations probe into the drug war.
According to Durana, drug suspects also “have the right to presumption of innocence and to due process under the law.”
But “drug enforcers,” Durano said, “have also the right to defend themselves while in the performance of their duty including use of appropriate amount of force to effect arrests of usually armed and drug-crazed suspects.”
According to Durana, the police’s policy was based “on the principle that we can be tougher on crimes, particularly illegal drugs, while upholding human rights and the rule of law.”
“This is never meant to be just a cliche,” he said.
As for the group’s calls for the Philippines to collaborate in a UN probe, Durana said the PNP wants to exhibit transparency in its work, which would mean collaborating with domestic or international investigative bodies.
He said, however, that this should be done “only through the Office of the Solicitor General which can best represent any government agency like the PNP.”
Apart from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Macedonia, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States called on the Philippines to also “provide and guarantee a safe and secure environment for all, including journalists and Human Rights defenders.”
This the group did during the 38th session of the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday.
The US has said it would withdraw from the human rights body for what it said was its bias and anti-Israel sentiment.
