Majority of deaths in anti-drug operations connected to police: study

April 27, 2019

Around 2,753 out of 5,021 validated cases of deaths in 16 months of the government's anti-illegal drugs campaign were connected to police operations, an academic study found.

The Ateneo School on Government released on Friday a study showing a compiled dataset or drug archive on number of killings connected to Oplan Tokhang.

The study, based on the 5,021 cases from compiled "publicly available information" from media reports and accessible court documents, revealed that most deaths resulted from police operations were in the context of buy bust operations.

Around 58 percent were caused by police operations, 15 percent were implementing a search warrant which according to the academe is "similar to the killing of Ozamiz City Mayor (Reynaldo) Parojinog," six percent of alleged drug suspects died in raids, four percent in checkpoints and three percent during "police sweeps" in communities.

The data also showed a huge percent of killings linked to police operations were furnished explanations by cops interviewed for the study.

Among those reasons given were: shootouts, an act of self-defense and "nanlaban" or the suspect resisted or fought back.

The study raised a question on police operations which resulted to deaths of alleged suspects inside their residences.

"The killing of suspects in private homes during official police actions raises important issues of accountability and the effectiveness of official police policy in conducting such operations. There are questions of whether these operations were conducted in contravention of rules of procedure whereby these officials are prohibited from entering houses without a warrant," the study said.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Saturday said they respect the findings and that courts will decide the constitutional and legal issues on drug-related killings.

"The PNP respects the opinion and result of studies made by the aademe," PNP spokesperson Police Colonel Bernard Banac said .

"But as an institution, let this be known to all, that we adhere to the rule of law, respect human rights, and value life. As any organization, we are not perfect. But this has not deterred us from intensifying internal cleansing to maintain discipline among our personnel and weed out from our ranks rogues, misfits and scalawags," he added.

Banac explained that since 2016, 8,440 PNP personnel were punished due to various offenses and illegal acts including activities connected to illegal drugs.

He said out of the 2,600 dismissed personnel, 332 were due to the use illegal drugs, 119 were found coddling, protecting drug suspects, or not attending court duties.

"Despite this, we assure the public that the PNP remains committed to perform its mandate to enforce the law, dismantle drug syndicates, and assist the rehabilitation of drug users with transparency, and utmost respect for human rights," Banac said.

"But, insofar as illegal drugs is concerned, make no mistake, the PNP will never fail to honor its commitment to enforce the law, destroy the illegal drug menace, and keep the peace and order in our land with transparency, adherence to the rule of law and utmost respect for human rights," he added. Cristina Eloisa Baclig/DMS