THE Commission on Human Rights’ (CHR) investigation into the thousands of cases of extrajudicial killings (EJKs) under the Duterte administration’s war on drugs have hit a snag because of the police’s refusal to cooperate, CHR chair Richard Palpal-latoc told lawmakers on Tuesday.
“Our concern is that there are no available records being provided to us by different agencies, like, most especially, the PNP. That information is crucial to the investigation because from there we can identify who is involved and who failed to perform his or her duties,” Palpal-latoc said during the budget hearing on the CHR’s proposed P1.24 billion budget for 2026.
He made the statement on the questioning of Rep. Jose Manuel Diokno (PL, Akbayan), who asked when the Commission’s EJK task force would finish its probe and issue its findings.
Palpal-latoc told the panel chaired by Nueva Ecija Rep. Mikaela Suansing that the CHR intends to complete its investigation of the initial 400 EJK cases out of the total 4,000 by November this year.
While some police stations comply with subpoenas, Palpal-latoc said many used the exceptions provided under former president Rodrigo Duterte’s Executive Order No. 2 on freedom of information to deny the CHR’s request for records of the EJK cases.
“We have been issuing show cause orders. But I think the legal defense of the Philippine National Police is the Executive Order No. 2 and the list of exceptions. Executive Order No. 2 is the freedom of information order issued by then president Duterte, and there (is a) list of exceptions which include the police investigations as confidential,” he said.
Then Duterte administration, through former executive secretary Salvador Medialdea, in 2016 issued a memorandum declaring that one of the exceptions to the public’s right to information under EO No. 2 is “information concerning law enforcement and protection of public and personal safety.”
Diokno urged the CHR to file charges against police officers who refuse to cooperate, saying it is “totally unacceptable” for it to appear so powerless “because your mandate as the CHR is to precisely find out (what happened to the EJK victims.”
“And I would also recommend that appropriate cases be filed in court to declare in contempt those who are not cooperating with the commission because this is a very, very important issue when we talk about accountability of public officials,” he also said.
