Filtered By: Topstories
News

Groups to hold June 12 rally vs. political, drug-related killings


Several groups on Thursday announced plans for a rally on June 12 (Independence Day) to denounce the spate of alleged extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations under the Duterte administration.

At a press conference in Manila, the organizers composed of church people, urban poor groups, and human rights advocates said it was time for the public to take to the streets to demand a stop to the killings of drug suspects as well as activists and alleged rebel sympathizers.

Under the banner "Stop the Killings, Defend Human Rights," an ecunemical prayer rally will be held at the Rajah Sulayman Park in Malate, Manila at 4 p.m. which will be followed by a protest rally.

The groups claimed that aside from more than 7,000 individuals killed in the government's war on drugs, at least 55 members of peasant and indigenous people's organizations have been killed by suspected authorities and vigilante groups from July 2016 to April 2017.

"Extrajudicial killings, whether of suspected drug users or political dissenters, whether of 10 or 7,000 people, are an atrocity. Such killings deprive victims of their right to due process. It deprives everyone of justice and degrades our dignity as human beings," they said.

PNP figures show that legitimate police operations have led to the deaths of more than 2,600 drug personalities since July 1, 2016 when its war on drugs started under the Duterte administration.

Its statistics also point to more than 6,000 deaths under investigation—including those involving drug suspects—for the same period.

'Not part of destabilization efforts'

The groups said they had chosen June 12, a national holiday, to allow for the participation of students and workers.

They also denied that the rally is part of destabilization efforts against the government, saying the protest action "aims to deliver a sharp critique of the policies and actions of the Duterte administration with regard to extrajudicial killings and impunity for perpetrators."

Among the groups spearheading the June 12 rally are Rise Up for Rights and Life (RISE UP), Alliance for the Advancement of Human Rights (Karapatan), National Union of People's Lawyers (NUPL), Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), and the Philippine Universal Periodic Review Watch.

Last week, incoming Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano led the Philippine government panel in presenting the human rights situation in the country before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland.

During his presentation, Cayetano denied that there was a "sudden wave" of state-sponsored extrajudicial killings in the Philippines. He also asked the UNHRC to visit the Philippines to check on the situation.

The former senator said that “fake news and alternative facts” made it appear that Duterte was “acting with impunity."

After the presentation, several countries including France, Germany and Latvia called on the Philippines to allow without conditions UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings Agnes Callamard to investigate the killings being blamed on the war on drugs.

Other nations also expressed alarm over the alleged extrajudicial killings in the country and urged the Philippines not to reinstate death penalty for heinous crimes.  — RSJ, GMA News

LOADING CONTENT