Bato’s human rights record in PNP unmatched since Marcos years —HRW exec

A Human Rights Watch (HRW) official on Wednesday said outgoing Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa will be leaving a police force with a shameful human rights record unparalleled since the time of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

"When Ronald Dela Rosa retires on Thursday as director general of the PNP, he will leave behind a police force with a sordid human rights record unmatched since the Marcos dictatorship," HRW researcher Carlos Conde said in a statement.

Conde claimed more than 12,000 people were killed in the Duterte administration's war on drugs, either by the police or by police-backed vigilante groups. He said this is way above the more than 3,000 deaths various human rights groups reported during the Marcos years.

Conde also criticized Dela Rosa's statement that any investigation on the killings in the war on drugs will affect the morale of the police force.

"Dela Rosa has been an enthusiastic supporter of the anti-drug campaign Duterte launched after taking office in June 2016. He rejected concerns about the soaring death toll of the police operations, saying the deaths were proof of an 'uncompromising' police approach to drug crimes," Conde said.

"He slammed calls by lawmakers for an investigation into the killings as 'legal harassment,' saying it 'dampens the morale' of police officers," he added.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency's consolidated data on Duterte's war on drugs showed that a total of 3,968 drug personalities have died in anti-drug operations from July 1, 2016 to Dec. 27, 2017, and 119,023 more have been arrested.

As of April 13, a total of 19,086 drug offenders were arrested in 12,032 separate anti-illegal drugs operation since the PNP relaunched its anti-illegal drug campaign in early December 2017.

Conde, however, said these were based on "flawed and inflated numbers," saying HRW found that most victims have been the subject of summary executions.

"Human Rights Watch research found that many of the killings have been summary executions in which police or their agents planted weapons and drugs on bodies and then claimed the victims had 'fought back.' No one has been held to account for these killings," Conde said.

Conde said the human rights record of Dela Rosa's tenure may soon be the subject of prosecution once the International Criminal Court, despite the Philippines' withdrawal from the Rome Statute, and the United Nations conclude their respective investigations on the war on drugs.

"These developments suggest that sooner or later, Dela Rosa may be held to account for the bloody campaign he so zealously endorsed," he said.

On Tuesday, Dela Rosa said he is ready to face any charges against him related to the drug war, adding he is willing to "sink or swim" with Duterte who he said gave him his "biggest break" in his PNP career.

However, Conde said this statement shows Dela Rosa has "no apparent concern for calls for accountability for the drug-war deaths."

Dela Rosa, who belongs to PMA Sinagtala Class of 1986, will leave his post on April 19 and will head soon head the Bureau of Corrections. He was supposed to retire on January 21 when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 56, but Duterte extended his term for three months.

His PMA batchmate, National Capital Region Police Office chief Director Oscar Albayalde, has been chosen by Duterte to succeed him. —Joseph Tristan Roxas/KBK, GMA News