US rights watchdog says police brutality rife in Philippines
December 20, 2022 · By Joseph Peter Calleja for www.ucanews.com
A Catholic devotee and her grandchild light a candle beside a mock chalk figure representing an extra-judicial killing victim during a prayer rally condemning the government’s War on Drugs in Manila on Feb. 22, 2017. (Photo: AFP)
US rights watchdog says police brutality rife in Philippines
A US human rights group has said that physical abuse of suspects by the police was a common procedure in the Philippines.
Cases of police brutality have not reached courts of law because victims thought they had no chance to take on the police force, New York-based rights watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report.
“Police brutality is common in the Philippines, where police officers commit serious abuses against criminal suspects with impunity,” the watchdog said in a statement on Dec. 16.
HRW traced police supremacy over civilians during the time of former President Rodrigo Duterte when thousands of police officers were allegedly linked to the killing of 30,000 drug suspects.
“Since the start of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs in 2016, the police have been linked to thousands of extrajudicial killings during drug raids. Many other suspects have also been subjected to torture or mistreatment,” HRW added.
The statement came after police officers beat up a theft suspect while in custody on Dec. 9 in Maasin City in Southern Leyte province in the Visayas region.
The video showed Police Staff Sergeant Ronald Gamayon beating civilian Gilbert Ranes with his fists along the streets of Maasin City.
Another video showed three men in civilian clothes and a police officer in uniform dragging Ranes into a police vehicle.
Ranes died three hours later in a local hospital because of the injuries sustained from the beating.
Bystanders who witnessed the event said Ranes was dragged like an animal.
“I feel for him. Ranes was dragged like a pig to be butchered at the slaughterhouse. There was an abuse of superior strength because there were many of them while Ranes had stopped showing resistance against any of the police officers,” witness Ronald Jebulan told UCA News.
A medical doctor from the Urban-Rural Health Unit of Maasin City declared that the cause of Ranes’ death was severe head trauma.
Investigators likewise found a hematoma and multiple abrasions on Ranes’ body.
Police Col. Hector Enage, director of the Southern Leyte Police Provincial Office, told reporters that Gamayon was responding to complaints from neighbors that Ranes had stolen a mobile phone.
“The officer had no prior history of misconduct. We’re not sure what made him decide to inflict injury on the victim,” the police colonel told reporters on Dec. 14.
Enage said a criminal case is set to be filed against Gamayon in court as soon as the supporting documents and evidence are completed.
Human Rights Watch, however, doubted if the case would prosper as the trial would begin next year.
“Filing a case is important but we know it’s not the measuring stick of justice. There has to be conviction and hopefully, the victim’s family would not settle for a compromise,” the group said.
Human rights activist Father Robert Reyes said police officers have lost the trust of the Filipino people because of their human rights violations.
“How can we trust the institution tasked to protect us? How can we have faith in people who instead of safeguarding our rights are prone to violate them?” Father Reyes told UCA News.
