BEYOND THE NUMBERS: REVEALING THE FACES OF THE VICTIMS OF THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST ILLEGAL DRUGS
PROJECT TEAM Writers Atty. Raphael Carlo Brolagda Atty. Ivy-ron Quinto Benjie Allen Aquino Juan Paolo de Guzman Research Consultants Prof. Glenda Litong, Ll.M. Atty. Mario Maderazo Research Assistant Marvey Mercado Layout Design Soleil Vinoya
This study was produced by the Initiatives for Dialogue and Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services, Inc. #69 K6th St. Brgy. East Kamias, Quezon City, Philippines Email: go4ideals@gmail.com Website: www.ideals.org.ph
CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
1
FOREWORD
2
INTRODUCTION
4
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
7
SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS
10
METHODOLOGY
11
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
17
VICTIM
18
WHY AND HOW
22
WHAT
24
WHEN
25
INVESTIGATION
26
WHERE
27
CONCLUSION
29
RECOMMENDATIONS
31
ENDNOTES
33
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
1
ASOG
Ateneo School of Government
CATW-AP
Coalition Against Trafficking of Women in the Asia and Pacific
EJK
Extrajudicial Killing
HR
Human Rights
HRV
Human Rights Violation
IDEALS
Initiatives for Dialogue and Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services, Inc.
iDEFEND
In Defense of Human Rights and Dignity Movement
IPA
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis
NBI
National Bureau of Investigation
PAHRA
Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates
PDEA
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency
PhilRights
Philippine Human Rights Information Center
PNP
Philippine National Police
UNHR OHC Framework
United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner’s Statistical Classification Framework
FOREWORD The human rights situation in the country took a fast dive in 2016 when President Duterte was elected to office and his flagship campaign against illegal drugs was formally and fully launched into action. Contrary to the official number of casualties released by the Philippine National Police -- 5,810 killed from July 2016 to 2020 due to anti-drug operations -- human rights groups assert that, in reality, the lives lost from the government’s “War on the Poor” is actually triple that number. Neither of the numbers, though, may simply be acceptable. Each one of them represents significant lives with hopes, dreams, and a future stolen permanently, as well as loved ones forever changed by their personal tragedies. I know and feel this for a fact. My only brother was among the thousands of victims of enforced disappearance during the dark days of martial rule in the country. Amid his bloody campaign, Duterte brazenly threatens and attacks human rights champions who remind the government to follow due process of the law. But the authoritarian leader prefers to silence its critics with fear. And so we use fear to continue telling about the glaring injustice and increasing despotism in the country. In 2016, the Initiatives for Dialogue and Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services, Inc. focused on its HR Program. In accordance with the triangle framework our team developed, we started with building a network of courageous partners from the church, similar-minded legal groups, and other civil society organizations. IDEALS lawyers, paralegals, and social workers partnered with affected communities for human rights promotion and education. This work, more importantly, enabled us to document cases of human rights violations in relation to the administration’s campaign against illegal drugs, and eventually gather and analyze the data. It was quite a deep learning experience for the staff to personally hear the stories of Filipinos affected by these HRVs. As we present our initial findings, we hope to give a more grounded and comprehensive picture of the human rights situation in the country -- and ultimately, amplify the voices of the victims and/or their families. We hope to trigger a more extensive discussion on this precarious yet crucial subject at the national and international level. Despite 2020 being largely defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, the study becomes relevant even more. Reports show that killings and impunity evidently continues amid the crisis. And so does the attack on human rights defenders who are continuously being persecuted (red-tagging), some brutally executed. Still added to these are the rights of the people amid disasters which are being undermined. In a time of uncertainty where hope and accountability seem to be more and more elusive, especially for the most vulnerable citizens, we wish for this study to be used in the struggle towards a more just society and for the protection of the rights of every Filipino. Joey Faustino President, Board of Trustees IDEALS, Inc.
2
INTRODUCTION
AN APPEAL TO GOD: The mothers of the 4 children who were nabbed by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in 2019 and detained in Bahay Pag-asa kneel in front of the altar of the San Jose de Navotas Parish to pray for the safety of their children. IDEALS filed a writ of habeas corpus to demand the release of the minors.
4
Killing under the cloak of “war” is nothing more than an act of murder. The campaign against illegal drugs waged by current President Rodrigo Duterte and his administration has been brutally fought over the past four years with no end in sight. With the President’s call to end the illegal drug trade in our country, many have heeded this call to arms. The Commander-in-Chief’s narrative, that this is a “just war”, is one which resonates with his people as evidenced by his high approval ratings.1 However, regardless of how rosy the narrative may seem to be, one must always go back to reality: that this is not a war, but state-sponsored murder.
This underreported but already staggering number does not even include vigilante killings, which constitute the bulk of the killings urged by the President’s campaign of violence.4 “If you know of any addicts, go ahead and kill them yourself as getting their parents to do it would be too painful,” said the Chief Executive in one of his earlier speeches.5 Emboldened by the words of the President himself, the perpetrators responsible for the killings have continued racking up the death toll of this operation with impunity. Apart from the violent deprivation of the lives of people supposedly
“ However, regardless of how rosy the narrative may seem to be, one must always go back to reality: that this is not a war, but state-sponsored murder.
According to the monitoring system of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, the #RealNumbersPH initiative, almost six thousand people have died due to anti-drug operations from July 1, 2016 to September 30, 2020.2 This number has been deemed by some to be unreal when compared with the independent tallies of various human rights groups and news organizations.3 But even if the government’s count is taken at face value, the fact remains that the government has acknowledged that thousands of Filipinos have been directly killed by the police in the name of this campaign.
5
involved in dangerous drugs, an impressive number of arrests have also been carried out. According to PDEA, roughly 259,000 persons have been arrested with the hopes of achieving a drug-free Philippines.6 Arrests are necessary in any legal system to make people answer for the commission of an offense. Unfortunately, the reality is that some of these arrests are done outside the bounds of law and arbitrarily deprive the victims of their freedom. When such flagrant violations of fundamental human rights are committed and sanctioned by the very
State and its agents who have sworn to protect its citizens, what recourse do the victims have? Given the magnitude with which these atrocities have been committed, various human rights organizations have taken up the gauntlet and fight against the culture of violence and impunity that the current administration is espousing.7 After having documented over 400 human rights violation cases since 2016, IDEALS has decided that such a number is significant enough to warrant an analysis of the four years of the Duterte administration’s socalled war. This study shall conduct a demographic analysis with the aim of introducing who the perpetrators are, who victims are, the violations committed against the latter, and the allegations of the former as to the circumstances surrounding the violation.
TOGETHER AS ONE: MISEREOR, the German Catholic Bishops’ Organization for Development Cooperation, joined IDEALS and partner organizations to celebrate the Day of Valor back in April 9, 2019 with families who have lost their loved ones in the Duterte Administration’s bloody campaign against illegal drugs.
In the conduct of this study, IDEALS worked with various partner associations such as the Coalition Against Trafficking of Women in the Asia and Pacific, the Archdiocese of Manila, and the Dioceses of Novaliches, Caloocan, Antipolo, among others. Together, IDEALS and these organizations were able to offer some relief to the victims of human rights violations through the referral of cases, monitoring and documentation of incidents, conducting interviews of the victims, their families, and witnesses, as well as provide other forms of assistance. By scrutinizing the details of each victim and the violations committed against them, IDEALS aims to go beyond the facade of the numbers given by the government and reveal the injustices hidden beneath.
6
DIGNITY FOR THE WOUNDED: Beneficiaries of The Paghilom Program of the AJ Kalinga Foundation hold a simple performance for visiting bishops and priests from Germany. The Paghilom Program aims to help the families of extrajudicial killing victims to heal and rebuild their lives.
REVIEW OF
RELATED LITERATURE 7
Various civil society organizations conducting HRV documentation efforts have released studies regarding the general demographic profile of the victims of the administration’s antiillegal drugs operations. A September 2019 report by the Philippine Human Rights Information Center, the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates, and the In Defense of Human Rights and Dignity Movement, analyzed their findings relating to documented extrajudicial killings from 2017-2019. In the report, the victims’ basic demographic profiles were disaggregated to reflect patterns on their sex, occupation, educational attainment, civil status, dependents, alleged link to illegal drugs, among others. The study revealed that most victims were adult males working in low-income jobs with low educational attainment and living in informal settlements or government-provided relocation sites. Most victims were in common-law relationships, resulting in their common-law spouses finding it difficult to access social security benefits. Evidently, the victims of the administration’s campaign are the poor. The paper also identified other abuses experienced by the victims or the families of the victims. These include illegal searches, harassment and intimidation, enforced disappearance, theft, falsification of death certificates, and depredation by funeral parlors, among others.
In a working paper8 released by the Ateneo School of Government in June 2018, media reports of extrajudicial killings from publicly available print, broadcast, or online media were analyzed. Of the 5,021 individual victims, the study revealed that media reports described the victims as follows: “[P]erson killed appears in the local drug watch list (22.9%), victim was an alleged drug user or dealer, person previously surrendered in Oplan Tokhang (10.6%), or a friend, family, or community member of the victim said the person used drugs. The labels used by the media or the police include: drug pusher or dealer (46.5%), drug user or addict (8%), drug courier or runner (1.1%), narco-politician (1.3%), narco-police (1.2%), or drug lord (0.6%).”9 The ASOG working paper also confirmed the findings of the study released by PhilRights, PAHRA, and iDEFEND regarding the basic demographic profiles of the victims -- mostly males living in impoverished communities (40% of reported deaths reside within the National Capital Region) and engaged in low-paying, low-skilled work. “There were 98 tricycle drivers, 32 construction workers or carpenters, 24 vendors, 19 jeepney barkers or dispatchers, 16 farmers, 12 jeepney drivers, 15 habal-habal and pedicab (bicycle) drivers, and 7 garbage collectors. Thirty-eight
8
were reported as unemployed.”10 It is important to note, however, that the ASOG working paper also revealed that some victims were government officials working in local governments, specifically, the barangay level. The ASOG working paper also distinguished between killings in the context of acknowledged police operations and killings in non-police operations: “Persons killed in non-police operations make up 2,262 cases (45%) in the dataset. These include victims who were killed (usually shot) by assailants, mostly on a motorcycle, and discovered where they were shot (38%). It also includes victims who were “dumped” in an area and may or may not have been killed in another location (7%).”11 In 2017, Amnesty International analyzed 33 documented cases of drug-related killings.12 Once again, the study concluded that most of the victims reside in urban poor households. “Of the 33 cases of drug-related killings documented by Amnesty International, more than 20 involved men who left behind partners and children -- often young children. The loss of a key breadwinner further compounds a family’s economic situation.”13 The report also identified barriers to justice that prevent families from
9
attaining justice -- lack of suspects, non-existent or weak investigations, intimidation and fear of reprisal, impunity, and risks and challenges for human rights investigators. The report also dabbled in drug policy as it discussed harm reduction and drug rehabilitation as possible solutions to the drug problem. In 2017, Human Rights Watch published a report14 closely examining “24 incidents, resulting in 32 deaths, involving Philippine National Police personnel between October 2016 and January 2017.”15 Going beyond the demographics of the victims and the patterns involved in the killings, the report briefly discussed President Duterte’s use of extrajudicial killings as a means of crime control since his reign as Mayor of Davao City. “Local activists say death squad killings of alleged drug dealers, petty criminals, and street children in Davao City started sometime in the mid-1990s, during Duterte’s second term.”16 “Since becoming president, Duterte has boasted about killings by the police during anti-drug operations and even ordered the police and public to kill more.” 17
JUSTICE AND HEALING: Even during a pandemic, extrajudicial killings remain rampant in Quezon City. A mass was held by Father Robert Reyes on September 9, 2020 at San Isidro Labrador Parish to pray for justice and healing for the families.
SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS This study is limited to the data gathered so far by IDEALS from its human rights legal documentation program, where instances of HRVs committed during the Duterte administration are documented. However, for purposes of this study, HRVs that were committed that have no connection with the campaign against illegal drugs are outside the scope of this study. From the beginning of the program in late 2016 until February 2020, close to 500 cases of these HRVs have been documented. These cases form the
dataset of this study. The cases largely come from the National Capital Region with some from the neighboring provinces of Bulacan, Laguna, and Cavite, and others from the province of Cebu. For this paper, the focus will be the profiles of the victims and the circumstances of the HRVs committed against them. A more detailed discussion of the emerging patterns from these cases, as well as case studies highlighting unique human rights violations, will be the subject of a subsequent paper.
10
The statistical and methodological framework to be used for the paper is based on the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner’s Statistical Classification Framework18; however, the data variables to be studied, as well as the classification of the violations, were altered to fit the context of the Philippines. The UNHR OHC Framework was chosen as the methodological framework for the study because it is the tool developed and used by the UNHR OHC for monitoring human rights violations around the world. Thus, this can serve to facilitate the communication of the Philippine context to the UNHR and the rest of the world. Likewise, this framework sets itself as the springboard for the deeper analysis of the common narratives and patterns of violations using the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis approach. The coding scheme of the adapted UNHR OHC Framework was used along with the IPA to highlight the said commonalities among the cases. The IPA was chosen given that the data gathering method used was one-on-one interviews with the families of the victims or the victims themselves of the human rights violations.
METHODOLOGY RIGHT THE WRONG, WRITE THE WRONG: IDEALS has documented around 537 cases of human rights violations since 2016 through numerous legal missions and documentations in Luzon and Visayas.
11
For the data variables, the following fields were considered:
WHO DID
PERPETRATOR TYPE
• State actor: Philippine National Police, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, other identified State actor • Identified private actor19 • Vigilantes20 • Other actors not acting with the State’s permission, support, or acquiescence • Insufficient information
HOW WERE THEY IDENTIFIED
WHAT
VIOLATION TYPE21 RELATED VIOLATION22
[based on IDEALS Statistical Classification Framework]
VICTIM CODE23
TO WHOM
VICTIM TYPE24
• • • • • • • • •
None User Pusher Possession Runner, courier, messenger Police asset Surrenderee Drug list/watch list Visited/employed in drug den
12
• Referred to by agent/ asset • Affiliated with person linked to illegal drugs • Previously arrested • Others • No information
WHEN
13
SEX
• Man • Woman
AGE GROUP
• • • • • • •
CLASS / INCOME GROUP
• Minimum wage and below • Above minimum wage
CIVIL STATUS
• • • • • • •
MINOR CHILDREN25
• Yes - If yes, how many and how old? • No
65 and over 55-64 45-54 35-44 25-34 15-24 Below 15
Single Married Common Law Widow/er Separated Annulled Others
DATE OF VIOLATION
DD - Month - YYYY
TIME OF VIOLATION
Hour - Mins - AM/PM
WHERE
RELATIVE LOCATION26 BARANGAY/TOWN/CITY • • • • •
REASONS FOR ENGAGEMENT27
• • • • • •
WHY
ENGAGEMENT TYPE28
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
None User Pusher Possession Runner, courier, messenger Police asset Surrenderee Drug list/watch list Visited/employed in drug den Referred to by agent/ asset Affiliated with person linked to illegal drugs None Buy-Bust Verification (Sona) With Search Warrant With Arrest Warrant Warrantless Arrest Search Incidental to Valid Arrest Checkpoint Patrol Stop and Frisk Tokhang (Knock and Plead) Custodial Investigation Invitation Others No information
14
REASONS FOR ATTACK29
• Victim resisted arrest • Victim was armed • Victim reached for State agent’s weapon • State agent was shot • Victim was in possession of drugs • Victim was committing another crime
As to the classification of violations, the following framework has been devised:
KILLING
Unlawful or arbitrary killing or arbitrary deprivation of life committed by State agents or non-State actors, who are acting under actual or apparent authority, or color of law, or upon the instruction of, or under the direction or control of, or by policy, order or behest of, the State in carrying out the conduct, or with the complicity, tolerance, connivance, acknowledgment, adoption, ratification or acquiescence of the State, or carried out without judicial process, or without the benefit of full due process guarantees. It shall include killings perpetrated by non-State actors for the purpose of carrying out on their own or in the context of vigilantism a campaign or policy of the State. It shall also include the failure of relevant State bodies or agencies to conduct effective investigation into a killing or arbitrary deprivation of life to determine the accountable persons and/or bring about justice to the victims. It shall refer to all acts or omissions by the State that result in the failure to preserve, respect and protect the non-derogable right to life under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and similar other human rights treaties to which the Philippines is a State party, the 1987 Constitution, as well as under the Minnesota Protocol.30
0101 Intentional homicide31 Unlawful death inflicted upon a person with the intent to cause death or serious injury. Inclusions: Murder; serious assault leading to death; killings caused by excessive use of force by law enforcement; extrajudicial killings and summary or arbitrary execution (0101-A); vigilante killings (0101-B).
15
Exclusions: Death due to legal interventions; homicide attended by justifying circumstances32; attempted intentional homicide (0102); non-intentional homicide (0103); non-negligent or involuntary manslaughter (01031); assisting or instigating suicide (0104); euthanasia (0105).
0102 Attempted intentional homicide Attempt to inflict unlawful death upon a person with the intent to cause death or serious injury. Inclusions: Attempted murder; attempted extrajudicial killing and summary or arbitrary execution (0102-A); attempted vigilante killing (0102-B).
Exclusions: All inclusions in 0101.
Arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty committed by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared 33 ENFORCED person, which places such person outside the protection of the law.
DISAPPEARANCE
02022 Deprivation of liberty Unlawful detainment of a person or persons against their will. Inclusions: Enforced disappearance.
TORTURE
An act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him/her or a third person information or a confession; punishing him/her for an act he/she or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed; or intimidating or coercing him/her or a third person; or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a person in authority or agent of a person in authority. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.34
11011 Torture Torture of a person. Inclusions: Torture; other forms of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment (11011A)35.
Exclusions: Acts causing harm or intending to cause harm to the person not amounting to torture (02).
16
ARBITRARY DETENTION
Arrest or detention not in accordance with national laws, because it is not properly based on grounds established by law, or does not conform to the procedures established by law, or is otherwise deemed arbitrary in the sense of being inappropriate, unjust, unreasonable or unnecessary in the circumstances.
02022-A Arbitrary Detention Unlawful detainment of a person or persons against their will. Inclusions: Arbitrary arrest or detention; palit-ulo scheme (02022-A1).36
OTHER HARMFUL ACTS
Acts causing harm or intending to cause harm to the victim (such as rape, sexual assault and other forms of sexual violence; death threats; threats to physical or mental integrity) by State actors or other actors acting with the State’s permission, support, acquiescence, or by persons or groups not acting with the support or acquiescence of the State whose harmful acts were met by a failure of due diligence on the part of the State in responding to these harmful acts.
0301 Sexual Violence Unwanted sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, or contact or communication with unwanted sexual attention without valid consent or with consent as a result of intimidation, force, fraud, coercion, threat, deception, use of drugs or alcohol, or abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability. Inclusions: Rape (0301-A); sex-forfreedom37 (0301-B); sexual assault; other acts of sexual violence.
17
Exclusions: Acts of abuse of a position of vulnerability, power or trust, or use of force or threat of force, for profiting monetarily, socially or politically from the prostitution or sexual acts of a person (0302); coercion (0205); prostitution offences, pornography offences and other acts against public order sexual standards such as incest not amounting to rape and exhibitionism (0802); assaults and threats (0201); slavery and exploitation not amounting to injurious acts of a sexual nature (0203); trafficking in persons for sexual exploitation (02041); harassment and stalking (0208).
0219 Other acts causing harm or intending to cause harm to the person Acts that cause harm or intend to cause harm to a person not described or classified in categories 0201-0211. Inclusions: Maltreatment through physical abuse or mental cruelty; cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment not amounting to torture. 02012 Threat Any type of threatening behavior if it is believed that the threat could be enacted. Threatening behavior, at minimum, is an intentional behavior that causes fear of injury or harm. Inclusions: integrity.
Death
threats;
threats
to
Exclusions: Using threat of force to demand a particular course of action from a person (0205); threatening a witness, justice or law enforcement official (08061); threatening voters to influence their vote (08071); threat of force to take property (0401); all injurious acts of a sexual nature (03); recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons through the threat of force for exploitation (0204); apply all exclusions listed in 0201.
07033 Abuse of Functions Performance of or failure to perform an act, in violation of laws, by a public official in the discharge of their functions for the purpose of obtaining an undue advantage for themself or for another person or entity. Inclusions: Abuse of function, authority, or public office; planting of evidence (07033-A); taking of property38 (07033-B); forceful ingestion of substances39 (07033-C); extortion (07033-D).
18
LABAN JUNJUN PARA KAY KIM. Parents of Kim Lester Ramos filed murder and planting of evidence charges against PCol Herjonner Soller at the Makati City Hall of Justice last December 10, 2019. The Ramos Family belied the policeman’s claim that Kim pointed a gun first, forcing the policeman to shoot Kim and his friend Lauro Lagarde Jr.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Close inspection of available data relating to the victims of the administration’s War on Drugs would reveal that most of them come from a common demographic: males living in urban poor areas working at least (if not lower than) minimum wage jobs and standing as breadwinners of their families. In this analysis, we take a closer look at the specific data fields and, in piecemeal, describe the identities of these human rights victims.
17
AGE GROUP Of the total 494 cases, 32.1% of the victims are within the age range of 25 - 34. Meanwhile, 25.6% are aged 35 - 44 and 20.9% are 15 - 24. It is significant to note that minors and senior citizens are not exempt from these human rights violations as, taken together, they comprise at least 3% of the victims.
SEX As to sex, it is overwhelmingly apparent that the direct victims of these human rights violations are males, comprising 86.2% of the total victim count, while the other 13.8% are women. These percentages show data on direct victims. However, if we are to consider the effects of the campaign against illegal drugs on indirect victims, women are the ones most affected by the post-incident effects of these HRVs.
18
CIVIL STATUS
168
COMMON LAW RELATIONSHIPS
149 SINGLE
126 MARRIED COUPLES
28 SEPARATED
5 WIDOWED
About 61.4% of the victims are partnered,
either through marriage or common-law relationships. It is apparent from this data that victims of HRVs leave partners and families behind as the former are killed or wrongfully imprisoned.
NUMBER OF MINOR CHILDREN 83.3% of the victims have at least 1 minor child dependent upon them for subsistence. A third of them have at least 3 - 4 minor children.
19
129 VICTIMS
HAVE ONE TO TWO MINOR CHILDREN.
EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT ONLY 3 GRADUATED COLLEGE
99% of the victims never got to finish tertiary education
23 WERE COLLEGE UNDERGRADUATES
with 54.4% of them only reaching high school and 36.1% only reaching elementary.
184 WERE IN HIGH SCHOOL 122 REACHED ELEMENTARY
1 ONLY FINISHED PRE-SCHOOL
OCCUPATION
66
CONSTRUCTION WORKERS OR CARPENTERS
40
HAVE MULTIPLE JOBS
36
TRICYCLE DRIVERS
5 WERE IN AN ALTERNATIVE LEARNING SYSTEM.
33
21
29
16
HAVE OTHER OCCUPATIONS
VENDORS
23
ARE UNEMPLOYED
FISHERFOLK
GARBAGE OR JUNK COLLECTOR
A huge chunk of the victims are construction workers (16.4%) or are involved in multiple occupations or “sidelines” (10%). While jobs vary, it is apparent that all the victims are blue-collar workers. A big portion of them are also workers from the informal sector earning mostly at least a minimum wage.
20
DID THE VICTIMS HAVE PRIOR CRIMINAL RECORD?
NO YES
120 76
While only 39.7% of the total documented cases disclosed information on past criminal records, more than majority of them have, in the past, been charged, convicted, or have served prison time for petty crimes.
VICTIMS’ LINK TO ILLEGAL DRUGS
ACCORDING TO STATE AGENTS
75% 58% 49% DRUG USERS
DRUG PUSHERS
HAVE DRUGS IN THEIR POSSESSION
14%
RUNNERS, COURIERS, MESSENGERS
21
ACCORDING TO COMMUNITY OR FAMILY
40% 26.7% DRUG USERS
HAVE NEVER BEEN LINKED TO ILLEGAL DRUGS
Naturally, there is a variation as to the link to illegal drugs as narrated by the families or witnesses of the victims as against the position taken by the State agents (police, NBI agents, PDEA, etc.). However, from the perspective of the victims’ families or witnesses, 26.7% were never linked to illegal drugs in any way, while about 40% admitted to the victims being drug users.
DRUG OPERATION CONDUCTED ACCORDING TO STATE AGENTS
128
ACCORDING TO COMMUNITY OR FAMILY
129
BUY BUST OPERATIONS
33
WARRANTLESS ARRESTS
32 13
NO INFORMATION
SEARCH INCIDENTAL TO VALID ARREST
11
TOKHANG (KNOCK & PLEAD)
WARRANTLESS ARRESTS
According to State agents, 46% of the incidents were regular buy-bust operations, while about 11.9% were valid warrantless arrests. However, the families and neighbors belie such claims as they state that only 10.7% of the incidents were buy-busts operations (while not conceding regularity) and 34.4% were warrantless arrests committed in violation of the victim’s constitutional rights.
66
TOKHANG (KNOCK & PLEAD)
40
BUY BUST OPERATIONS
28 26
NONE
NO INFORMATION
22
REASONS FOR ATTACK ALLEGED BY STATE AGENTS
192 VICTIMS
WERE FOUND IN POSSESSION OF DRUGS For killings, State agents claim that about 23% of the incidents resulted from the victims violently resisting arrest or being armed -- typically known as the “nanlaban� narrative. For both killings and arrests, State agents claim that 61% were in possession of illegal drugs, while 12% were arrested while committing some other crime and then incidentally searched.
TYPE OF PERPETRATORS
55.3% 32% PNP
UNIDENTIFIED
Official records and testimonies of the victims or their families and witnesses reveal that 55% of the incidents involved the Philippine National Police, while an alarming 32% of the incidents were committed by unknown or unidentified assailants.
23
MAIN VIOLATIONS Further disaggregating the incidents, the researchers created subclassifications to accurately describe the incidents and shed light on the differences in gravity or variance in the instances of the committed human rights violations.
252
Out of the total number of killings, 48% of them were committed by unknown assailants (typically known as “riding-in-tandem” because the killers are two people riding a motorcycle). 33%, meanwhile, were summary or arbitrary executions or the more common understanding of extrajudicial killings.
KILLING
229
96.5% of the arrests were arbitrarily made, distinguished from the 3.5% that were part of the unique palit-ulo scheme.
ARBITRARY DETENTION
10
2
OTHER
ENFORCED
HARMFUL ACTS
DISAPPEARANCE
1
TORTURE
Killings dominate the number of incidents, comprising 51% of the human rights violations, while 46.4% were unlawful arrests.
RELATED VIOLATIONS
297
OTHER HARMFUL ACTS
18
13
6
ARBITRARY DETENTION
TORTURE
ENFORCED
DISAPPEARANCE
From the total number of HRVs, around 45% had related human rights violations, such as planting of evidence, taking of property, forceful ingestion of substances, extortion, sexual violence, to name a few.
24
MONTHLY COUNT OF HRV CASES
27
HIGHEST NUMBER OF CASES
2
2016
2017
TIME OF VIOLATIONS 38.2% of the incidents happened during the day. 61.8% of the incidents happened at night.
25
LOW OF C
Since 2016, there were an average of 11 cases of human rights violations per month, with the highest number of cases being recorded in October 2016, just a few months after President Duterte assumed the Presidency.
WEST NUMBER CASES
2018
2019
INVESTIGATION 32% of the total HRVs had an initial investigation conducted by the PNP with 98% of these having no further action beyond this initial investigation. 58.5% of the total cases, on the other hand, had no information given to the victims or their families whether or not any actual investigation was conducted.
26
VIOLATIONS PER CITY OR MUNICIPALITY Almost 60% of the cases came from the cities of Manila, Quezon, and Caloocan. 20% of the cases came from either the city of Navotas or the province of Bulacan. These show the hotspots of the incidents.
27
28
CONCLUSION After conducting the demographic analysis, a much clearer picture of the campaign against illegal drugs is brought to light – one that is markedly different from that portrayed by the current administration.
RESIST. IDEALS responds to the increasing human rights violations in hotspot communities through rights education, legal missions, and inclusive documentation and handling of cases. All of these are done through strong partnerships with churches, legal groups, and other human rights advocates.
29
According to empirical data, an overwhelming majority of the victims were minimum wage earners residing in urban poor communities, indicating that there is a strong connection between one’s income classification and being a casualty of this campaign. The evils brought about by the human rights violations of state perpetrators are pervasive and indiscriminate in its effects. Taken at face value, it is apparent from the data that the victims are predominantly males between 25 to 44 years old. But both senior citizens and minors have also been unjustly stripped of their life and liberty, showing the indiscriminate nature of
these abuses. Further, most of these victims have wives and children. The difficulty of losing a source of income compounds the already harsh reality of these families who are left behind. Through the deprivation of the victim’s rights, the rights of their families to food, health, and support are also violated. The discrepancy between the claims of the victim’s family and the witnesses to the incident and those of state agents was expected. The victim’s association
documented in this study, further evincing the culture of violence and impunity brought on and propagated by the campaign against illegal drugs. With almost half of these killings and arrests having related violations such as the planting of evidence and taking of property, the current administration’s appalling disregard for the sanctity of human rights is all too clear. The insufficient and sometimes absolute lack of investigations done by authorities in these cases is also telling.
“ The victim’s families are left to fend for themselves with
their loss and fear, with no information as to any action authorities have taken regarding their case.
to illegal drugs, the validity of the police operation conducted, and the existence of a valid warrant are just some of the contentions encountered. Though the truth of what actually happened is yet to be determined, the fact remains that the claims of the government are being contested by those who have lost their loved ones despite the fear of experiencing the same brutality themselves. The government has defended the killings by claiming that in these cases, the victims resisted arrest or were armed. But this claim of selfdefense is belied by the stories of the victim’s family and other witnesses. This nanlaban narrative has also been used in less than 25% of the killings
The victim’s families are left to fend for themselves with their loss and fear, with no information as to any action authorities have taken regarding their case. Through the documentation of these cases, the atrocities committed and condoned by this administration shall not be forgotten. Regardless of whether the victims were indeed linked to illegal drugs or not, they are human beings with rights enshrined in our Constitution. In this study, the interviews were able to shed light on who are the actual casualties of this campaign. The information provided by the victim’s families is one step forward in stopping the abuses and holding the real criminals accountable.
30
DIGNIDAD. Dignidad is the official tabloid of IDEALS’ Human Rights Program. It aims to capture the truth and empower people who belong to communities with rampant human rights violations.
RECOMMENDATIONS Having gathered information on the various aspects of how these human rights violations are committed, it is recommended that there be further examination of the data so that preventive and remedial action may be taken in the near future. In particular, deeper analysis of the patterns emerging from the narratives of the victims will hopefully be able to shed light as to the widespread and systematic character of the violations. The acts of state perpetrators in these incidents should also be reviewed through the lens of existing institutional and legal frameworks governing the anti-illegal drug operations in the country.
31
By comparing the actual implementation of Oplan Tokhang with what is prescribed by its operational guidelines and other relevant laws, such as Republic Act No. 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act, the gaps in the rules and laws as well as lapses in enforcement may be determined. Once these issues are made clear, more concrete recommendations may be had to prevent the recurrence of these human rights violations and to exact accountability on those who perpetrate and perpetuate these crimes.
ENDNOTES 1 Flores, Helen. 82% of Pinoys satisfied with drug war — SWS. The Philippine Star. https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2019/09/23/1954156/82-pinoys-satisfied-drug-war-sws. 23 September 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2020. 2
3
#RealNumbersPH. Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. http://pdea.gov.ph/2-uncategorised/279-realnumbersph. Retrieved 22 November 2020. Talabong, Rambo. How the Duterte government underreports drug war killings. Rappler. 18 September 2020. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
4
Id.
5
Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte urges people to kill drug addicts. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/ world/2016/jul/01/philippinespresident-rodrigo-duterte-urgespeople-to-kill-drug-addicts. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
6
#RealNumbersPH, supra note 2.
7
Philippine Human Rights Information Center. The Killing State: The Unrelenting War Against Human Rights in the Philippines. September 2019.
8
David, Clarissa C. et al. The
Philippines’ Anti-Drug Campaign: Building a Dataset of PubliclyAvailable Information on Killings Associated with The Anti-Drug Campaign. ASOG Working Paper 18-001. June 2018. 9
Id at 8-9.
10
Id at 12.
11
Id at 20.
12
“If you are poor, you are killed” Extrajudicial Executions in the Philippines’ “War on Drugs”. 2017.
13
Id at 40.
14
License to Kill Philippine Police Killings in Duterte’s “War on Drugs”. March 2017.
15
Id at 4.
16
Id at 29.
17
Id at 32; citation omitted.
18
Statistical Classification Framework and Methodological Guidance Note on SDG Indicator 16.10.1 Number of verified cases of killing, kidnapping, enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention and torture of journalists, associated media personnel, trade unionists and human rights advocates in the previous 12 months by the UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, UNESCO
International Programme for the Development of Communication, and the International Labour Organization.
violation. 26
19 Non-State agents who are acting with the State’s permission, support, or acquiescence. 20
21
In the Philippine context, this includes agents who wear masks, helmets, or other apparel to conceal their identities while committing human rights violations in furtherance of the War on Drugs. The “main violation” or the violation that constitutes the gravest offense. As stated in the UNHR OHC Framework, the hierarchy of violations are as follows: killing, torture, enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, kidnapping, and other harmful acts.
Refers to the place where the violation occurred in relation to a certain location (such as right outside or inside the victim’s home, in front of a convenience store, and the like).
27 Based on the information of the State agents, if any. 28
Id.
29
Id.
30 Litong, Glenda T. Legal Prohibition of Extrajudicial Killings and the Prescription of Effective Remedies. Occasional Human Rights Paper Series Vol. I No. 3. The Institute of Human Rights, University of the Philippines Law Center. 2020. Pp. 45-46. 31
The categorization and codes are based on the International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes (ICCS), version 1.0 (March 2015) by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
32
As stated in Art. 11 of the Revised Penal Code.
The names of the victims shall be anonymized using a numerical code to protect them from further harm or retaliation.
33
As defined by Republic Act No. 10353 or the Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act of 2012.
24 Based on the knowledge of the family or community of the victim.
34
As defined by Republic Act No. 9745 or the Anti-Torture Act of 2009.
22 The UNHR OHC Framework suggests up to three related violations only. However, for this paper, all related violations shall be counted to show the gravity and number of violations committed against each victim. 23
25 Minority as of the time of the
35
Defined by Republic Act No. 9745 as, “a deliberate and aggravated treatment or punishment not enumerated under Section 4 [Acts of Torture] of this Act, inflicted by a person in authority or agent of a person in authority against a person under his/her custody, which attains a level of severity causing suffering, gross humiliation or debasement to the latter. The assessment of the level of severity shall depend on all the circumstances of the case, including the duration of the treatment or punishment, its physical and mental effects and, in some cases, the sex, religion, age and state of health of the victim.�
36
When a person is arbitrarily detained and is released on the condition that the true target of the perpetrators surrenders.
37
When a person is arbitrarily detained and is released on the condition that the victim or someone associated with the victim is coerced into having sexual intercourse with the perpetrators.
38
The taking of valuable items belonging to the victim by the perpetrators during an operation usually involving the arbitrary detention of the former.
39
The coercion of the victim by the perpetrator to drink a liquid mixed with an unknown substance
