Duterte admin poised to have biggest number of EJKs –CHR data

Among recent administrations, the Duterte administration is poised to have the most number of extrajudicial killings being investigated by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), GMA News' Maki Pulido reported on 24 Oras on Tuesday.

Citing CHR data, the report said on the first year of President Rodrigo Duterte's leadership, there were already 646 cases of supposed extrajudicial killings being investigated by the CHR. These were recorded from May 10, 2016 to March 28, 2017.

During the eight-year administration of former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the CHR probed 942 alleged extrajudicial killings, while during the six years of former President Benigno Aquino III, the commission investigated 531 cases.

Extrajudicial killings under the Duterte administration have been blamed on his war on illegal drugs where the victims were mostly drug suspects.

Meanwhile, the CHR expressed disappointment over Duterte's pronouncement during his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday that the agency should be abolished.

"The President's statements made both at his 2nd SONA & after should remove any doubt regarding the attitude his administration will take towards respecting the human rights guarantees enshrined in the Constitution," CHR chairman Chito Gascon said in a statement.

"The actions during the first year of his Presidency coupled with his words said over the same period exhibit an utter disregard for due process, equal protection, and other civil liberties. This has encouraged the deepening of impunity," he added.

The CHR also decried Duterte's "wrong interpretation" of the agency's mandate to make sure that the government and agencies under it are held liable for violations of human rights. —Anna Felicia Bajo/KBK, GMA News