CHR to probe spate of killings of illegal drugs personalities

The President Duterte-inspired anti-drugs operations further intensified around the country, with the killing of eight more illegal drugs suspects during a raid in Matalam town, Cotabato, early yesterday. A father and son were also killed in a buy-bust operation in Tondo, Manila, Friday night; and a suspected drug pusher also died in Quezon City Friday afternoon.

Superintendent Romeo Galgo, spokesman of the Central Mindanao regional police, said the area raided by police, composed mostly of  elite forces, is known to be the lair of illegal drugs suspects who are also involved in other crimes such as carnapping and robbery.

Armed with a search warrant, police swooped down on Sitio Quiapo in Barangay Poblacion at around 2:30 a.m. and chanced upon a group of armed men in the area which primarily houses drug dens, according to the authorities.

“There was a brief gunfight as the suspects fired upon the raiding team,” said Galgo.

The brief clash resulted in the death of eight suspected drug users and pushers.

They were identified as Tainko Mamakan, Bolao Palti, Haron Mamakan, 18-year old Abudzaid Runas, Tahir Salipudin, Mustapa Tausi, Mangapan and Mama Musa. The eighth fatality was Jobaina Lumantag, a woman who died at the Cotabato Provincial Hospital.

Police also arrested a certain Aratok Balabagan who is now detained and facing illegal drugs-related charges.

FATHER AND SON

In Manila, Police Officer 3 Marlon A. San Pedro said Eduardo Remodero, 66, and Arcy Remodero, 43, both residents of 3192 Interior, Pilar Street, Tondo, were killed after they engaged policemen in a gunfight during a buy-bust operation Friday night.

It all started when Remodero and his son agreed to a P1,000 shabu transaction with a police undercover agent at about 11:20 p.m. Friday.

However, when the Remoderos sensed they had just transacted with a policeman, they drew their respective handguns and opened fire at the lawmen, triggering a brief gunfight.

Other policemen, who were on standby, came to the defense of the beleaguered comrade and joined the gunfight, killing Eduardo instantly.  His son, Arcy, who was then critically hit, was taken to the Ospital ng Tondo but was declared dead on arrival at about 11:30 p.m. by Dr. Jay Janobas.

Police seized at the fight scene .38 caliber revolver and .22 caliber revolver with bullets; six pieces of heat-sealed plastic containing suspected shabu, several drug paraphernalia, and the marked money used in the operation.

KILLED IN ESCAPE BID

In Quezon City, Randy de Guzman, 30, of Barangay Tatalon, was killed after snatching a policeman’s service firearm in his attempt to escape Friday afternoon.

De Guzman, listed Top 8 on the Drug Personality Watchlist of the QCPD’s Galas Police Station (PS-11), was arrested while police were conducting Oplan “Tokhang.”

Six officers of the PS-11 were doing the rounds on Manunggal Street in Galas at about 4 p.m. Friday when they chanced upon De Guzman receiving a suspicious plastic bag from a still unidentified man.

Police immediately arrested De Guzman, while the unidentified man managed to escape.

De Guzman yielded the plastic bag which contained dried marijuana of still undetermined quantity and amount.

As the policemen were taking De Guzman to the police station aboard a police mobile car, the suspect, who was already handcuffed, suddenly grabbed one of the lawmen’s handgun.

This prompted the other policemen to open fire at De Guzman to neutralize him. The suspect was taken to the Delos Santos Medical Center in Barangay Doña Imelda, where he died later.

DUTERTE-INSPIRED OPERATIONS

The victory of President Duterte has inspired the police to intensify the campaign against illegal drugs, according to the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Such inspiration had already resulted in the death of 103 drug personalities from May 10 to July 3 alone. From June 27 to July 3 alone, police have killed a total of 31 illegal drugs personalities around the country.

Some personalities and groups advocating human rights have been raising alarm over the spate of killings involving illegal drugs personalities, especially on the oft-repeated reasons of the slain suspects trying to fight it out with cops or trying to grab the guns of the policemen on their way to the police station.

Recently, a suspected drug user was killed right inside a police station in Metro Manila after he allegedly tried to take the gun of one of the arresting policemen. His father, who did not leave him for fear that he would be executed, was also reportedly killed during the gun-grabbing incident.

CHR PROBE

With the spate of killings of drug personalities, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) will investigate the deaths of alleged pushers and suspects supposedly involved in illegal drugs trade.

“Siyempre po, lahat ng mga kaso na may posibleng human rights violations ay iimbistigahan ng CHR…tungkulin po namin ito (Of course, the CHR will investigate all cases where human rights may have possibly been violated),” CHR Chairman Chito Gascon said in a text message.

He explained that he was out of the country and could not grant an interview to convey the plans of the CHR, as well as his reaction to the killings.

It was recalled that President Duterte called on the CHR to just allow him to do what he deems necessary in the campaign to eradicate the illegal drugs trade.

That comment was viewed by many as a “warning” against CHR and all other government agencies who might stand in the way of this administration’s desire to rid the country of illegal drugs, however “harsh” the methods might be toward achieving that goal.

Duterte, a few days after being sworn in as the 16th President, seems to have backtrack a bit on his hard stance and his supposed “zero tolerance” for drugs, saying he knows the bounds of the law, especially because he himself is a lawyer.

Gascon, in previous media interviews, said that if a policeman shoots down a suspect who is also about to shoot at the law enforcer, then such a situation merits the action taken and cannot be deemed a human rights violation.

However, he maintained that an investigation still needs to be conducted to ensure that that was indeed what happened.

Gascon seemed to have found an ally in former CHR chairperson and now Senator Leila de Lima, who said in an interview that she also believes that some of the suspects indeed chose to engage police officers in a shootout and were thus neutralized.

But De Lima said that she finds it hard to believe that all of these suspects suffered the same fate.

Duterte had earlier encouraged police to shoot down any drug suspect who refuses to surrender and instead chooses to resist arrest.

There has been a notable rise in the deaths of suspects supposedly linked to the illegal drugs trade.

De Lima warned that some of these incidents might actually be summary executions instead of just legitimate police operations which resulted in fatalities.

The relentless campaign, however, has seemingly had a “chilling effect” against drug users and pushers who are now surrendering by the droves, perhaps choosing to live and reform rather than just be a mere statistic in the growing number of neutralized drugs suspects.

Source:
courtesy of MANILA BULLETIN

by Aaron B. Recuenco, Analou De Vera & Vanne P. Terrazola

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