Palace says Reuters engaged in “bad journalism”; gov’t not taking sitting down allegations of abuses vs cops

December 21, 2017

Malacanang accused Reuters of "bad journalism," while reiterating the Duterte administration was not taking sitting down allegations of abuses against policemen in the wake of war on drugs.

In a press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque hit Reuters for coming out with the story on the supposed "Davao Boys," the lethal anti-drug unit based in Station 6 of Quezon City Police District, without waiting for Palace's side.

He said Reuters' reporter gave him an ultimatum of one hour to comment on the story shortly before his regular press briefing early this week.

"I did not meet the ultimatum. And therefore,I would not comment on the story because it's bad journalism. You don’t write a story and give government a timeline to respond, otherwise, they will go ahead and publish a story. I thought that was really foul," he said.

In the story, which came out on Dec. 19, Reuters said that "soon after President Rodrigo Duterte launched his war on drugs, a small group of police officers from his hometown Davao arrived in the Philippine capital."

Calling themselves the "Davao Boys," the news agency said this was formed as the core of a lethal anti-drug unit.

Reuters reported that of the 12 police stations in Quezon City, policemen from Station 6 killed 108 people in the anti-drug operations from July 2016 through June 2017, the campaign’s first year, accounting for 39 percent of the city’s body count. The data came from the QCPD crime reports.

According to Reuters, the head of the Davao Boys was Lito Patay, who once led a paramilitary police unit in Davao City, where Duterte hails and where he was a mayor for 23 years prior to his election as president.

Pressed to further comment on Reuters' report, Roque cited the writ of amparo that the Supreme Court issued against Station 6 early this year.

"So the response is we’re not taking it sitting down. Government, when that petition for Amparo was filed in the Supreme Court, did not oppose the petition and that’s why the Supreme Court issued the Writ of Amparo. So question: Is the government sanctioning the alleged operations of this Davao group? Clearly not because in that petition, government did not oppose it. In effect, government agreed with the allegations of the petition and that’s why there was a writ of protection issued," he said.

"That’s why I’m very, very upset at that really bad journalism of Reuters," he added.

Roque said it is the obligation of the State to investigate, punish, prosecute and give the victims adequate domestic legal remedy.

"We did. The Supreme Court and the OSG (Office of the Solicitor General) did not oppose, issued the writ of protection, writ of amparo, which includes the duty to investigate alleged perpetrators of human rights violations. That’s a matter of record. There’s the decision of the Supreme Court, in this regard.

Roque, a lawyer, explained the writ of amparo would not  provide for criminal sanctions against the respondents.

"What it will do is it will prompt the respondents to investigate and the PNP (Philippine National Police) right now is under obligation to investigate and confirm the reports of the petitioners in that writ of amparo," he said. Celerina Monte/DMS