PNP says trying to boost procedures in operations after girl dies

July 2, 2019

The Philippine National Police ( PNP) said they are''improving their systems and procedures'' to deter violent resistance by suspects when effecting arrests after a three-year-old child died after being used by her father as “human shield” during a police operation on Sunday in Rizal Province.


Police Colonel Bernard Banac, the PNP spokesman, said in a statement Tuesday ''any armed engagement especially close quarters combat in a cramped environment like this is very chaotic and the confluence of events is fast and unpredictable to allow more calibrated and cautious reactions.”


Banac said this is the operation where Police Senior Master Sergeant Conrado Cabigao Jr., and two other alleged drug suspects, including the child’s father died.


He said the PNP condoles with the unfortunate fate of the child for becoming a “collateral” casualty.


“We offer our sincerest condolences to the bereaved families of all four persons who died in this fateful incident,” said Banac.


The PNP said Cabigao acted  on instinct to survive that ordeal but was simply outgunned by the two suspects.


“That incident shows the dangers faced by law enforcement officers when effecting arrest of drug offenders, particularly armed members of notorious drug syndicates,” he said.


The wounded child was rushed by members of the operating police unit to a nearby hospital but all attempts failed to revive the child, according to Banac.


In a separate statement, Human Rights Watch said they doubt that Myka, the three-year-old victim, was used as a human shield.


“Police accounts of drug raids are not reliable because the officers enforcing the ‘drug war’ have been shown to manufacture evidence,” Carlos Conde, HRW representative said.


HRW said the drug war has damaged countless Filipino children aside from the reported 6,600 adult deaths.


The UN Human Rights Council should adopt the Iceland-initiated resolution that urges the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to report on the drug war killings and other human rights violations in the Philippines.


“The resolution on the table is a modest first step, but if passed and implemented it can make significant inroads towards stopping the carnage in the Philippines,” it added. Ella Dionisio/DMS