Karapatan acknowledges a pending bill seeking to classify extrajudicial killing as a heinous crime as an important step in recognizing the role and accountability of State forces in these killings in the Philippines.
“At the same time,” said Karapatan deputy secretary general Atty. Maria Sol Taule, “such a bill should complement and be consistent with existing domestic and international instruments and agreements, including the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL); domestic laws on international humanitarian law, torture, enforced disappearance, and children in situations of armed conflict; and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Geneva Conventions,” she added.
House Bill No. 10986 was filed on October 11, 2024 by leaders and members of the Quad Committee of the House of Representatives, as it conducted hearings on EJKs during former Pres. Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war.
“Thus,” said Taule, “we believe that provisions of the proposed bill exempting State forces from liability when the killing occurs during military or police operations should be stricken out. CARHRIHL, the domestic law on IHL and the Geneva Conventions should be clearly observed in situations of armed conflict where military and police operations are often conducted.”
Taule noted that extrajudicial killings during the post-Marcos Sr. administrations, especially under the Macapagal-Arroyo and Duterte regimes, involve the summary executions by military or police forces of civilians who are members of groups accused of being communist front organizations or suspected of supporting the New People’s Army (NPA) and are later falsely portrayed as armed combatants killed in military encounters.
“Retaining such a provision will put this bill in danger of playing into the bogus ‘nanlaban’ narrative in the case of drug suspects or the fake ‘killed in an encounter’ narrative in the case of activist,” explained Taule. “It will reinforce the culture of impunity that has shielded masterminds and perpetrators of extrajudicial killings for so long,” she stressed.
Karapatan also scored the proposed bill’s non-recognition of the principle and application of command responsibility, especially pertaining to the roles of President as the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and as head of the government’s executive branch. “Knowledge of, and responsibility for, the commission of extrajudicial killings in military and police operations are presumed when these are perpetrated in line with government-sponsored campaigns,” she said.
Activists trooped to the House of Representatives on December 4th for a scheduled hearing on the proposed “EJK bill.”
It was also the sixth anniversary of Rodrigo Duterte’s issuance of Executive Order No. 70 creating the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
“Then and now, the NTF-ELCAC has been at the forefront of red-tagging and vilifying activists, human rights defenders and other dissenters, with the objective of isolating them and creating public hostility against them and their work,” said Taule. “Activists who are targeted as well as ordinary civilians are coerced into surrendering as armed rebels to be included among the NTF-ELCAC’s ‘accomplishments.’ Those who refuse are set up for graver human rights violations.”
“We cannot discuss any bill on EJKs without citing the state’s role, through the NTF-ELCAC, in justifying and normalizing the extrajudicial killing, enforced disappearance or unjust arrest and detention on trumped-up charges of activists,” said Taule.
“Rodrigo Duterte is accountable for the extrajudicial killings of up to 30,000 drug suspects, but he is likewise responsible for the summary execution of 422 political activists and the frustrated extrajudicial killing of 544 others,” cited Taule.
“The enactment of laws against terrorism and terrorist financing expanded the legal bases for arbitrarily connecting activists to terrorism and rendering them vulnerable to unjust arrest on trumped-up charges or ‘neutralization,’ a common military euphemism for killing,” she added.
“The Marcos Jr. regime has not done away with the NTF-ELCAC or any of the other repressive and coercive policies and orders issued by Duterte,” Taule further explained. “Is it any wonder that under Ferdinand Marcos Jr., there have been, among others, 119 extrajudicial killings, 14 enforced disappearances and 201 illegal or arbitrary arrests as of November 27, 2024? There have also been 560 documented forced or fake surrenders.”
“Karapatan demands a stop to all forms of extrajudicial killing,” stressed Taule. “It demands the abolition of the NTF-ELCAC for its nefarious role in the killings and persecution of activists.”
“We call on the International Criminal Court to expedite the arrest, prosecution and trial of Rodrigo Duterte so he can be put behind bars where he belongs. At the same time, we demand justice and accountability from the Marcos Jr. regime for continuing the same Duterte-era policies that have engendered the mounting human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law against the Filipino people,” she concluded. #
