De Lima tells PNP that records of drug killings are not rehashed, unfounded

Senator Leila de Lima on Saturday said the records of drug killings are not "rehashed" or "unfounded" as claimed by the Philippine National Police (PNP).

“EJKs (extrajudicial killings) are not mere product of imagination, and more so, the stories of the victims of these mass atrocities are not rehashed narratives,” she said.

“People are getting killed arbitrarily and without due process, and they are not just statistics and fictional stories – lives were lost, dreams were shattered, and families are displaced because of the abuses perpetrated by state authorities,” the senator said.

PNP spokesperson Police Brigadier General Bernard Banac earlier said the International Criminal Court is being given "rehashed narratives" of law enforcers' alleged abuses in the conduct of the government's war against drugs.

Banac said the "rehashed narratives of alleged abuses" have remained to be "unfounded and devoid of truth," and told repeatedly in order for them to look factual.

The PNP said its anti-illegal drugs operations have all been legitimate.

De Lima said the public should all the more call for justice for victims of EJKs.

“Walang dapat ipagkibit-balikat dito. Libo-libong mga maralitang Pilipino na pinaslang nang walang kalaban-laban at mga inosenteng bata na pinagkaitan ng kinabukasan ang pinag-uusapan dito,” the senator said.

The Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC is looking to finish in 2020 its preliminary examination of the allegations against President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs.

This developed as the ICC prosecutor said that their office had received allegations that law enforcers raped women with ties to drug suspects. —KG, GMA News