POLICE chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar yesterday maintained the country’s justice system is working in addressing alleged extrajudicial killings and other crimes in relation to the government’s war against illegal drugs.
Eleazar made the remarks after the International Criminal Court (ICC) reported that 94 percent of drug war victims in the country want the international body to look into possible crimes against humanity commited by the government in relation to its anti-drug campaign.
The victims supported the request for authorization to investigate the alleged crimes which former Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda applied on May 24 before the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber.
Eleazar said that while “we respect the decision of the families of persons killed in anti-illegal drug operations in seeking an International Criminal Court investigation.. we can assure them that the Philippines’ justice system works. Proof of this is the conviction of the policemen for the killing of Kian delos Santos and several other court decisions which have caused the dismissal and imprisonment of other PNP personnel.”
Eleazar was referriong to 17-year-old Delos Santos who was shot dead by policemen after he allegedly fought back during an anti-drug operation in Caloocan City in August 2017. A close-circuit television footage, however, showed Delos Santos was dragged by the policemen to a dark alley where his body was later found.
Three policemen involved in the crime have been sentenced to reclusion perpetua, or imprisonment of 20 to 40 years, without eligibility for parole. The PNP also dismissed the policemen from the service.
“We already made several initiatives to prove that the PNP has no policy of allowing and tolerating all forms of human rights abuses in the conduct of our operations,” said Eleazar.
Among these, Eleazar said, are the “strengthening of transparency and accountability that include procurement of body-worn cameras and aggressive internal cleansing that includes speeding up the resolution of administrative cases against erring PNP personnel.”
