PH does not tolerate "police impunity," Cayetano asserts

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, during a gathering of the Filipino community in Geneva Switzerland, asserted that under Philippine regulations, there is no police impunity.

"Anyone killed by the police is investigated. Although the police operations were presumed legitimate, the presumption is not conclusive," Cayetano said before hundreds of Filipinos from Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Germany, France, Belgium, UK, Italy, and Canada.

"If evidence shows that there is (EJK) extrajudicial killing, kakasuhan po ang mga alagad ng batas," he added.

In a short message addressed to attendees in the forum organized by Overseas Filipino Workers in Switzerland, Cayetano cited that in the past, drug lords, the corrupt, and criminals were acting with impunity.

"They're not afraid of the law. The police were afraid of catching them. Dahil sila pa ang makakasuhan. The fiscals were afraid of powerful organizations," Cayetano said.

The Philippine National Police-Internal Affairs Services (PNP-IAS) is mandated to conduct motu proprio investigations during incidents a)where a police personnel discharges a firearm; b) where death, serious physical injury or any violation of human rights occurred in the conduct of police operations; c) where evidence was compromised, tampered with obliterated or lost while in the custody of police personnel; d) where a suspect in the custody of the police was seriously injured ; and e) where the established rules of engagement have been violated.

To prevent police impunity, the National Police Commission (NAPOLCOM) and the Philippine National Police have existing policies and guidelines to discipline their personnel and officials. The NAPOLCOM issued MC No. 2016-002 dated 7 March 2016 revising the uniform rules of procedures before the administrative disciplinary authorities and the PNP Internal Affairs Service.

Cayetano, together with Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo Guevarra, is in Geneva to lead the Philippine delegation attending the Universal Periodic Review on May 8.

The team is expected to present the human rights-based development programs of the Philippines and the measures adopted to fulfill its obligations to the eight (8) International treaties ratified in the past years.

The delegation includes representatives from the Presidential Human Rights Committee, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Health (DOH), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), the Philippine National Police (PNP), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the National Economic Development Authority (PDEA), the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP)