Aguirre blasts CHR chair for comparing number of drug killings to Martial Law deaths

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Tuesday criticized Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Chairperson Chito Gascon for making a comparison between the number of deaths during Martial Law and the killings under the Duterte administration's war on drugs.

In a chance interview, Aguirre took exception to Gascon's statement that the casualties in the drug war that has reportedly reached the 5,000 mark, a figure that was allegedly higher than the deaths recorded in the first few years of Martial Law, which was imposed in 1972.

"Ayusin niya pagsasalita niya, ayusin muna niya mga figures niya. Pare-pareho naman kami nakipaglaban kay Marcos. Nag-ge-generalize siya,” the Cabinet official said.

His official profile on the Department of Justice website read "As a student and a young lawyer, he fought the Marcos dictatorship."

"In November 1972, less than two (2) months after the declaration of Martial Law, the dictatorship’s Military Tribunal filed a case against him for Inciting to Sedition and issued an Arrest Search and Seizure Order (ASSO) against him," Aguirre's profile read.

Aguirre said Gascon failed to distinguish if the deaths in the drug war were a result of legitimate police operations or the work of vigilante groups.

The justice chief also slammed Gascon for urging the DOJ to file criminal charges despite the lack of complaints against policemen who admitted to killing drug suspects for allegedly resisting arrest.

“Huwag na niya ako pagsabihan, wala naman siyang alam. Hindi siya abugado. Bakit hindi sila magfile ng kaso? Sila may karapatan magfile ng kaso. Kahit siya, yung office niya, may karapatan magfile ng kaso pero kahit isang kaso wala,” he said.

Aguirre added the CHR has not even filed a case against President Rodrigo Duterte over his alleged links to the vigilante group Davao Death Squad.

Fact-finding and recommendatory

Responding to Aguirre's tirades, Gascon said the CHR has no powers to prosecute, which the DOJ and the Office of the Ombudsman have.

"The extent of CHR jurisdiction is only fact-finding and recommendatory. Why should Secretary Aguirre have to wait for complaints to be filed with the DOJ for the 'nanlaban' cases? In these cases, there arises a reversal of presumption because of the admission of killing and self-defense justification must be a matter for the courts to weigh or consider," Gascon said.

The CHR chair said the "burden" of conducting thorough criminal investigation is primarily with the law enforcement agencies such as the police and DOJ "as they have access to the necessary human resources and facilities to undertake the same."

"The CHR as a watchdog and monitoring institution has the role of reminding the govt agencies of their responsibilities as duty-bearers. Secretary Aguirre cannot shift the burden of delivering justice to others as it is his," Gascon said. —JST, GMA News