EXTRAJUDICIAL killings remain a serious problem in the country under the administration of President Marcos Jr., the US State Department has said in its 58-page country report on the Philippines’ human rights practices.
“Extrajudicial killings, largely by police but also by other security forces, remained a serious problem. In addition, politically motivated killings, including of journalists, were reported during the year,” the report, which covered the year 2023, said.
“There were numerous reports of arbitrary or unlawful killings by police in connection with anti-drug operations,” it added, even as it noted that “the Marcos administration continued the anti-drug campaign – which began under the Duterte administration – albeit with a focus on treatment and rehabilitation, due process, and rule of law-based investigations.”
The report, however, said that while “there were no significant changes in the human rights situation in the Philippines” in 2023, “the number of incidents of arbitrary and extrajudicial killings and of some other abuses by government agents decreased.”
KILLINGS
President Marcos Jr., in a statement during the recent seizure of billions of pesos worth of shabu in Batangas, has touted the success of his administration’s supposed “bloodless” campaign against illegal drugs.
But the US State Department, using data from the non-government organization Dahas PH, said there were 209 killings that were reported in relation to the anti-drug drive from January to August 2023.
It also noted that as of July last year, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), an independent government office constitutionally responsible for investigating possible human rights violations, had probed 51 complaints of alleged extrajudicial or politically motivated killings that affected 82 victims and which were supposedly perpetrated by six PNP personnel, two members of the military, seven insurgents, four civilians, and 33 unidentified persons.
The CHR also investigated 15 drug-related extrajudicial deaths involving 18 victims. Eight of these complaints purportedly involved police officers.
Among the extrajudicial killings the report cited in the US State Department report were the March 4, 2023 attack that killed Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo and nine others, the killing of 17-year old Jhemboy Baltazar last August by six Navotas police officers, and the killing last May of a radio commentator in Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro.
The report highlighted previous and ongoing investigations conducted by the PNP Internal Affairs Service and other government bodies, including the Armed Forces of the Philippines unit charged with monitoring human rights violations by members of the military, the Center for Law of Armed Conflict, and the National Bureau of Investigation on the involvement of security forces in the killilngs.
DISAPPEARANCES, TORTURE
The report also mentioned other significant human rights issues, including enforced disappearances, torture or inhumane punishment by and on behalf of government, other physical abuses by non-state actors, use of child soldiers by terrorists, serious restrictions on freedom of expression and media freedom, and extensive gender-based violence, among others.
The CHR reported 10 cases involving 14 persons who were victims of abduction and enforced disappearance from January to July last year.
“Four cases were allegedly perpetrated by members of the PNP, three by unidentified persons, one by other state agents, one by a civilian, and one case did not indicate the perpetrator,” the report said.
However, it noted that the AFP’s Center for Law of Armed Conflict reported no cases of enforced disappearance attributed to or implicating the armed forces from January to July.
While the law prohibits torture, and evidence obtained through its use is inadmissible in court, the State Department said the CHR has reported that some members of the security forces and police have been accused of routinely abusing and sometimes torturing suspects and detainees.
Common forms of abuse during arrest and interrogation reportedly included the use of electric shock, burning with cigarettes, and suffocation.
“As of July, the CHR investigated 21 cases of alleged torture involving 36 victims. Of those, 17 involved members of the PNP, one a local government official, one a corrections officer, one a member of the NBI, and one an inmate,” it said.
As for arbitrary arrest, the State Department said the CHR investigated 21 alleged illegal detention cases involving 24 individuals from January to July, of which 13 were supposedly perpetrated by the PNP, two by members of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, three by members of military, one by a local government official, one by a member of the NBI, and one by an unidentified person.
PNP, SECURITY FORCES
The State Department acknowledged concerns raised by human rights groups about the “contribution of corruption to abuses committed by the PNP and other security forces,” as it pointed out “little progress in implementing and enforcing reforms aimed at improving investigations and prosecutions of suspected human rights violations.”
“The national police’s institutional deficiencies and the public perception that police corruption was endemic continued,” it said, adding that “impunity was a significant problem in the security forces, particularly in the PNP” based on reports from local and international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
It also said that efforts to prosecute the perpetrators were sometimes stymied by the fact that witnesses to abuses were often unable to obtain protection.
“The Office of the Ombudsman reported that witnesses often failed to come forward or to cooperate in police abuse or corruption cases. This reticence sometimes followed pressure on witnesses and their families or arose from an expectation of compensation for their cooperation,” it said.
OVERCROWDED PRISONS
The report also took note of the “gross overcrowding, inadequate sanitary conditions, physical abuse, and a chronic lack of resources including medical care and food” in the country’s prison and detention facilities.
It said that Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) facilities operated at approximately four times their operating capacity of 12,272, holding 51,721 prisoners.
BuCor operates the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City, which currently holds 25,886 inmates, though originally it only had a 6,000 capacity when it was built.
It said the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), under the Department of the Interior and Local Government, controlled 479 city, district, municipal, and provincial jails that held pretrial detainees, persons awaiting final judgment, and convicts serving sentences of three years or less.
The BJMP, it added, reported its jails operated at 350 percent of designated capacity as of July last year.
“Dasmarinas City Jail for women in Cavite Province was one of the most congested jails in the country, with an official capacity of 11 inmates, (but) as of July, it held 328 detainees,” the State Department cited as example.
It added that poor sanitation, inadequate ventilation, poor access to natural lighting, overcrowding, and a lack of potable water were chronic problems in detention and correctional facilities and contributed to health problems.
“Prison authorities attributed most of the 758 inmate deaths reported from January to July to illnesses,” it noted.
It further said prison services reported insufficient custodial and escort personnel, especially in large jails, with a national average of approximately 43 prisoners assigned to each custodial staff member.
In larger prisons, the ratio was higher; for example, in the national penitentiary, one prison guard oversaw 191 prisoners.
MEDIA FREEDOM
On the issue of freedom of the press, the State Department said that while the 1987 Constitution provided for freedom of expression, including for members of the press and other media, threats and actions by the government, allied groups, and powerful individuals against journalists, media organizations, government critics, and others continued.
“On the surface, individuals could criticize the government publicly or privately and discuss matters of public interest. Observers and NGOs maintained that the chilling effect on public expression engendered under former President Duterte continued at a lower level under the Marcos administration. International watchdogs such as Reporters Without Borders noted fewer and less violent attacks against journalists in the first year of the Marcos administration, but several problems remained,” it said.
However, it added that the practice of “red-tagging” — the labeling of human rights advocates, unions, religious groups, academics, and media organizations as fronts for or clandestine members of insurgent and other rebel groups – continued under the Marcos administration, which “has neither suppressed nor condemned the practice.”
“Journalists continued to face harassment, threats of violence, and violence, including from individual politicians, government authorities, and powerful private persons critical of their reporting. Physical attacks, including at least one killing, against journalists continued and several cases from previous years remained unresolved,” it said, citing a report from the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) that 60 press freedom violations occurred from January to April last year, 19 of which were harassment cases and 12 were red-tagging.
“Broadcast network Sonshine Media Network International, owned by indicted human trafficker Apollo Quiboloy, was the most frequent source of red-tagging allegations against journalists, including the NUJP’s chairperson,’ it added.
