Solon wants state-sponsored EJKs treated as a special heinous crime

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THE overall chairman of the House quad committee which is looking into the Duterte administration’s bloody war on drugs yesterday told the House Committee on Justice that extrajudicial killing (EJK) should be treated as a special heinous crime separate from murder because it is “state-sponsored.”

“Let us differentiate EJK from murder to punish state actors behind killings. Private offenders will be covered by existing laws,” Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers told the justice panel’s hearing on House Bill No. 10986, or the proposed Anti-Extrajudicial Killing Act.

HBN 10986 defines EJK as “any killing other than that imposed by the State pursuant to the provisions of the Constitution on heinous crimes or a deliberate and arbitrary killing of any person not authorized by a previous judgment pronounced by a competent court affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.”

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It may be committed by a public officer, person in authority, agent of a person in authority, or any person who is acting under the actual or apparent authority of the state.

The proposed measure explicitly classifies extrajudicial killing as a heinous crime, ensuring that anyone, regardless of rank or position, found guilty of such acts will face appropriate criminal penalties.

The bill’s authors are Barbers, Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr., Deputy Speaker David Suarez, Reps. Bienvenido Abante of Manila, Dan Fernandez of Sta. Rosa City, Stephen Joseph Paduano of PL, Abang Lingkod, Romeo Acop of Antipolo City, Johnny Pimentel of Surigao del Sur, Gerville Luistro of Batangas, Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez of PL, 1-Rider, Paolo Ortega V of La Union, Jefferson Khonghun of Zambales, and Jonathan Keith Flores of Bukidnon.

“The intention of the proposal to us is really to elevate the killing perpetrated by state agents higher than the so-called murder, if that is possible. As I premise earlier that, if this will not violate the equal protection clause, e sa tingin ko dapat klaro kung sino yung perpetrators ng EJK at sino yung hindi (I think we have to differentiate who are the EJK perpetrators from those who are not),” Barbers said.

“If they (perpetrators) are not state agents or persons in authority then therefore they fall under a different category. But if they are state agents and committed such crime that is considered to be extrajudicial killing. That was the intention of this particular proposal,” he added.

The proposed Anti-EJK Act is one of the bills filed by the quad committee leaders who also investigated the links of illegal drugs to the operations of Philippine Offshore Gambling Operators (POGOs).

The joint panel earlier recommended the filing of charges of crimes against humanity against former President Rodrigo Duterte, Sens. Christopher “Bong” Go and Dela Rosa, and others for the thousands of EJKs committed under the previous administration’s bloody war on drugs.

Barbers told the justice panel that drug suspects killed by police in the course of the Duterte administration’s bloody war on drugs were always accused of fighting back to justify killing them.

“‘Nanlaban (They fought back).’ That is the common excuse for killing suspects, which, in many cases, we found hard to believe. Thus, we recommended this bill,” he said.

The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) agreed with the proposal to treat EJK perpetrators who are state agents differently from private citizens who commit the crime of murder, saying persons in authority have access to instruments of crimes such as firearms and ammunition, and to state resources and power.

However, the OSG said a private individual may still be covered by the proposed EJK law under certain circumstances, such as if he acts in support or under authority of the EJK perpetrator-state agent.

The bill’s authors proposed the imposition of the penalty of life imprisonment “upon a public officer, person of authority, agent of a person in authority, or any person who is acting under the actual or apparent authority of the State, who commits an extrajudicial killing or who orders the extrajudicial killing.”

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