PH does not
tolerate "police impunity", Cayetano asserts
By Office of Senator Alan
Peter S. Cayetano
May 8, 2017
PASAY CITY – Senator
Alan Peter Cayetano, during a gathering of the Filipino community in
Geneva Switzerland, asserted that under Philippine regulations, there
is no police impunity.
“Anyone killed by the police
is investigated. Although the police operations were presumed
legitimate, the presumption is not conclusive,” Cayetano said before
hundreds of Filipinos from Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Germany,
France, Belgium, UK, Italy, and Canada.
“If evidence shows that
there is (EJK) extrajudicial killing, kakasuhan po ang mga alagad ng
batas,” he added.
In a short message addressed
to attendees in the forum organized by Overseas Filipino Workers in
Switzerland, Cayetano cited that in the past, drug lords, the corrupt,
and criminals were acting with impunity.
“They’re not afraid of the
law. The police were afraid of catching them. Dahil sila pa ang
makakasuhan. The fiscals were afraid of powerful organizations,”
Cayetano said.
The Philippine National
Police-Internal Affairs Services (PNP-IAS) is mandated to conduct motu
proprio investigations during incidents a) where a police personnel
discharges a firearm; b) where death, serious physical injury or any
violation of human rights occurred in the conduct of police
operations; c) where evidence was compromised, tampered with
obliterated or lost while in the custody of police personnel; d) where
a suspect in the custody of the police was seriously injured ; and e)
where the established rules of engagement have been violated.
To prevent police impunity,
the National Police Commission (NAPOLCOM) and the Philippine National
Police have existing policies and guidelines to discipline their
personnel and officials. The NAPOLCOM issued MC No. 2016-002 dated 7
March 2016 revising the uniform rules of procedures before the
administrative disciplinary authorities and the PNP Internal Affairs
Service.
Cayetano, together with
Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo Guevarra, is in Geneva to lead the
Philippine delegation attending the Universal Periodic Review on May
8.
The team is expected to
present the human rights-based development programs of the Philippines
and the measures adopted to fulfill its obligations to the eight (8)
International treaties ratified in the past years.
The delegation includes
representatives from the Presidential Human Rights Committee, Deputy
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Department of Foreign Affairs
(DFA), Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Health (DOH),
Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of
Labor and Employment (DOLE), the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA),
the Philippine National Police (PNP), Department of Social Welfare and
Development (DSWD), the National Economic Development Authority (PDEA),
the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), and the National Commission
on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).