Press Release
April 28, 2017

STATEMENT OF SEN. LEILA M. DE LIMA ON PETITION FOR NEW WRIT FOR CRIMINAL PROCEDURES ON EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS

I commend the Center for International Law for its petition to the Supreme Court to issue new rules, to be known as "writ contra homo sacer", on the inquest procedure in investigations involving deaths from police operations and vigilante-style killings.

The writ will not only help curb the growing number of extrajudicial and summary killings happening in our country every day but also, most importantly, will comply with the best international criminal law practices and standards.

It is however increasingly clear that extrajudicial and summary killings have become a grave concern here and abroad that demands concerted efforts between and among the executive, judiciary and legislative branches of our government.

For its part, Congress needs to address institutional barriers to efficient, independent and impartial investigation of extrajudicial and summary killings by passing into law Senate Bill No. 1197 which I filed seeking not only to define the crime of extrajudicial killings and its penalties but also in exacting accountability of state and non-state actors in the administration of criminal justice system in the country.

As reports of alleged police abuses in the Duterte administration's all-out war on drugs continue to grow in speed and severity, I join my fellow human rights activists in calling on the High Court to heed with urgency the need for a new writ.

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