Palace to EU, UN: Allow PH to probe killings first. Inquirer Newsletter. March 12, 2021.

No images? Click here   STAY AT HOME   Police officers on Thursday stand guard at the entrance to Barangay 351 in Santa Cruz, Manila, which has been placed on lockdown for four days due to a spike in coronavirus infections in the area. Except for workers in the health-care system and essential industries, residents of the village are prohibited from going out until Sunday. —RICHARD A. REYES     Regions Palawan plebiscite ‘dry run’ for 2022 PUERTO PRINCESA CITY—The Commission on Elections (Comelec) regards the plebiscite in Palawan on Saturday as a “dry run” for next year’s elections to determine the poll body’s capability to hold an electoral exercise during a pandemic. The Comelec says health and security measures are in place as local voters decide whether to ratify or reject the law dividing Palawan into three provinces. —Story by Romar Miranda Read more: newsinfo.inquirer.net/regions   Lifestyle Salons back, but must offer more They’re back in business, but upscale salons are still reeling from losses from the monthslong closures. Apart from the costly demands of the new health measures, their earnings still barely cover operational costs with the mandatory reduced capacity in their establishments. Many have had to offer at-home services just to keep staff employed. Business recovery, they say, hinges on the vaccine. —Story by Marge C. Enriquez Read more: lifestyle.inquirer.net   Newsletter / Join us Has this been forwarded by a friend? Subscribe now to the Philippine Daily Inquirer Newsletter and get your latest news and important updates on COVID-19. Subscribe     Subscribe   Banner Story Palace to EU, UN: Allow PH to probe killings first By Leila B. Salaverria Malacañang on Friday said Philippine authorities must be given the chance to investigate the killings of nine activists over the weekend and promised that those found to have violated the law would be punished. Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the Duterte administration would not tolerate impunity and the Department of Justice had ordered a deeper probe of the killings last Sunday in the provinces of Cavite, Rizal and Batangas. “Impunity has no place in the Duterte administration and whoever violated the law would be held responsible and punished under the law,” Roque said in a press briefing. Roque was reacting to a statement by a spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), who was “appalled” by the “arbitrary killings.” ‘Excessive force’ Roque asked the European Union (EU) to give the Philippines “a chance to discharge its obligation, to investigate, punish and prosecute those who may have breached our domestic laws.” “The truth has to be known, so let us give the Department of Justice the chance to conduct a fair investigation,” he added. In a statement on Wednesday night, the EU Delegation to the Philippines expressed concern over the killings during Sunday’s operation by the police, which was backed by the military. “Reports on the use of excessive force against unarmed individuals and alleged irregularities in the law enforcement operations have raised concerns,” the statement said. The EU welcomed the government announcement that it would investigate the killings. It recalled the Duterte administration’s commitment to the Human Rights Council that it would ensure accountability for human rights violations and abuses in accordance with due process and in full compliance with its international human rights obligations. Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana lamented that the killings had already been reported to the United Nations human rights body even before an official investigation had started. Lorenzana said “our enemies are trying to preempt the investigation and paint us to be in the wrong.” NPA ‘facade’ The Philippine National Police on Thursday said that those killed and others arrested on Sunday were members of the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). “They are indeed NPA members hiding behind the facade of being activists,” said PNP spokesperson Police Brig. Gen. Ildebrandi Usana but he did not provide evidence. He said the PNP had obtained 24 search warrants from the courts for the “subjects” or targets of their simultaneous raids last Sunday. “The police just applied the law against them instead of fighting against them. On the other hand, these NPA members wanted to shoot it out with our troops instead of surrender. The rest is history,” he said. He said that as far as the police were concerned, it did not matter whether they were communists or not but whether they violated the law, noting that the search warrants were for firearms and explosives. Silencing dissent “The evidence of guilt must be strong and that is what our operatives saw following the [service] of the search warrants at different locations in Calabarzon,” Usana said. But human rights and progressive groups said the police killed unarmed activists. They accused President Duterte of encouraging a crackdown to silence dissent under the guise of intensified counterinsurgency operations reminiscent of thousands of deadly police antidrug operations. Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto expressed the same sentiments and called on the government to end the “dirty war” and “stop the death squads” to save democracy in the country. In a statement, Recto said the prevailing “epidemic of unsolved killings” had rocked the people’s faith in the Philippine justice system, which was already “bleeding from a thousand wounds caused by assassins’ bullets.” “Every time a lawyer is killed, a judge waylaid, an activist executed, a mayor ambushed, a slum teenager murdered, an agent of the state silenced, it strengthens the perception that justice is elusive and crime does pay,” he said. Recto warned that the “mass erosion of faith” in the rule of law would “drive desperate people to take the law into their own hands,” and soon lead to the “privatization of justice” and a boom of the murder-for-hire industry. “Why would anyone still choose to sue, when a bullet can do the job faster?” he said. He said the government should not treat activists and critics as enemies because they were needed as watchdogs. “Life and liberty are precious. And activism is not terrorism,” he said. Inquest sought Members of the Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives led by Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate on Thursday challenged the Duterte government to allow UN investigators to look into the series of killings of activists in the Philippines if it had “nothing to hide.” Zarate said the PNP should also subject all the police officers involved in last Sunday’s killings to inquest proceedings, in accordance with its own rules pertaining to deaths during police operations. “This procedure will establish whether there is prima facie findings or none that the ones killed actually fought back,” he said. On Thursday, the six Makabayan lawmakers together with Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman and Quezon City Rep. Jose Christopher Belmonte filed a resolution calling for a congressional inquiry into the killing of nine activists. The lawmakers said the killings came a day after the President ordered state forces to kill communist rebels and “don’t mind human rights.” Lorenzana maintained that the President’s “shoot-to-kill” order was directed at communist rebels involved in armed struggle. He agreed with National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. who said that the only way to handle armed rebels was to retaliate with force. Esperon earlier said the President’s order was correct “because [communist rebels] are armed and it is unlikely you could even think of human rights then. We should think of how to defeat them.” He maintained that “if you don’t shoot them first, you will get shot ... So that order is just right in the name of peace, law and order.” —WITH REPORTS FROM JEANNETTE I. ANDRADE, TINA G. SANTOS, NESTOR CORRALES AND MELVIN GASCON Read more: newsinfo.inquirer.net   Editorial An excellent Filipino The Ateneo memo that formally announced his passing last week said it all: 'We take solace in the knowledge that his was an earthly life filled with meaning and purpose (and)... dedicated to service, to standards of excellence, in the greater glory of God. Indeed, a man, an excellent man, for others.' The memo, posted on social media, paid tribute to Fr. Joaquin Bernas, SJ, 88, a Jesuit lawyer and one of the framers of the 1987 Constitution, who passed away early Saturday morning. Bernas served twice as dean of the Ateneo Law School (1972 to 1976 and 2000 to 2004), was president of the Ateneo de Manila University from 1984 to 1993, and was also a much-esteemed columnist in this paper for nearly a decade, from 2005 to 2014. Those who had the privilege of knowing him hailed Bernas for raising a new generation of lawyers with a strong sense of social justice, and for helping a country just coming out of 14 years of authoritarian rule to again find its bearings as a democracy. Read full story: opinion.inquirer.net   Copyright © 2020 PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: P.O. Box 2353, Makati Central Post Office, 1263 Makati City, Philippines.   Share    Tweet    Share    Forward  Preferences  |  Unsubscribe