CHR reiterates call to conduct thorough probe on alleged human rights violations in war vs. illegal drugs

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Wednesday reiterated its call to conduct a thorough investigation into alleged human rights violations related to the war on drugs under the Duterte administration.

The CHR issued the call after a former police officer was convicted over the killings of teenagers Carl Angelo Arnaiz and Reynaldo "Kulot" De Guzman in 2017.

“The commission once again urges the government to conduct a thorough investigation of all cases of alleged human rights violations related to the anti-illegal drug campaign,” it said in a statement.

The CHR said it has released its own findings and forwarded its recommendations to the government in 2022.

It said that it hopes the government will act on the recommendations to preserve the integrity of the justice system and ensure accountability among the perpetrators.

“CHR remains open and ready to support the government, particularly law enforcement agencies, in improving the protection and promotion of human rights through their mandates,” the commission said.

“We continue to urge the government to proactively act on the pending allegations of human rights violations so that cases like that of Carl and Kulot reach the courts and meet the ends of justice,” it added.

The commission also welcomed the recent conviction against the former police officer, saying that it “sees it as a triumph of the rule of law.”

Navotas Regional Trial Court Judge Romana Lindayag Del Rosario sentenced Jeffrey Sumbo Perez to reclusion perpetua without eligibility for parole for the deaths of Arnaiz and De Guzman.

Arnaiz was killed by Caloocan police officers on August 18, 2017, with authorities saying he had staged a hold-up against a taxi driver.

De Guzman, Arnaiz’s friend, was later found dead with 30 stab wounds on his body in Gapan, Nueva Ecija, his head wrapped in packaging tape.

Last January, the International Criminal Court (ICC) authorized the reopening of an inquiry into the Duterte administration's war on drugs.

The Philippine government, however, sought the reversal of the decision of the ICC earlier this week. 

In 2018, then-President Rodrigo Duterte pulled the Philippines out of the Hague-based tribunal's Rome Statute, with the withdrawal taking effect in 2019 after the ICC began a preliminary probe into the allegations of state-sanctioned killings in his war on drugs.

Officially, 6,181 people were killed in Duterte's drug war but rights groups say that up to 30,000 may have been killed. —Richa Noriega/ VAL, GMA Integrated News