Eleazar orders IAS to review after-ops reports on drug crackdown

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Police General Guillermo Eleazar on Thursday said he has ordered the Internal Affairs Service to review and verify the after-operations reports submitted by police commanders on anti-illegal drugs  crackdowns. 

Eleazar issued the directive as he assured public of transparency and accountability in anti-drugs operations as the International Criminal Court opens its probe into the killings in the Philippines' war on drugs.

“Kami man sa PNP ay gustong matapos na ang lahat ng pagdududa at mga alegasyong ito dahil ang buong organisasyon na ang nadadamay dito,” he said in a statement.

Eleazar pointed out the efforts of the PNP to directly confront the “allegations of human rights abuses and extra-judicial killings in our aggressive campaign against illegal drugs”.

“As what we have been saying and in fact, have repeatedly proven to our kababayan, the PNP neither condones nor covers up abuses and other forms of wrongdoings in our ranks,” he said.

“We assure our kababayan that we shall remain committed to the principles of transparency and accountability that we have been working hard for in order to continue winning the trust, confidence and respect of the Filipino people,” he added.

He cited PNP’s coordination and cooperation with the Department of Justice for the review of illegal drugs operations, including those which resulted in deaths and injuries of some subjects.

On Wednesday, the ICC authorized the start of the investigation into the killings in the Philippines' drug war.

According to the ICC, its Pre-Trial Chamber 1 has granted then-Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda's June 14 request to probe crimes related to the anti-drug campaign from November 1, 2011 to March 16,2019.

The ICC said that a "specific legal element of crime against humanity of murder" has been met with respect to Duterte's war on drugs in the period from July 1, 2016 — the day after President Rodrigo Duterte was sworn into office as chief executive — until March 16, 2019, the day before the Philippines formally exited the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC.—LDF, GMA News