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Nearly four years after the war on drugs waged by Rodrigo Duterte ended, the Philippine National Police is conducting its own investigation into the thousands of killings in the course of PNP drug enforcement operations in the previous administration.
The move, announced by Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla whose department has supervision over the PNP, inevitably raised questions on the credibility of a probe to be conducted by the same agency that carried out the brutal crackdown, for which Duterte is likely to face trial before the International Criminal Court.
Still, the conduct of the probe bears watching, especially as the first to be summoned is the principal enforcer and reported architect of Oplan Tokhang, PNP chief-turned-senator Ronald dela Rosa.
In case the subpoena to be issued by the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group reaches Dela Rosa and he shows up for questioning, it will be the first time that he will face probers in connection with the drug war killings.
It will also mark the first time that Dela Rosa will emerge from six months of hiding and absence from the Senate, amid reports that the ICC has ordered his arrest.
Over the weekend, the ICC declared that there is no public arrest order covering Dela Rosa, who tops the list of “co-perpetrators” in the crimes against humanity case Duterte is facing before the international tribunal. With the ICC statement, Dela Rosa no longer has reason to continue his protracted absence with P300,000-a-month pay as a senator.
Remulla said Dela Rosa was the “tip of the spear” in the drug war and therefore, any probe on accountability in extrajudicial killings related to the war on drugs must start with Duterte’s PNP chief.
It’s not the first time that the government has tried to establish accountability in the drug killings. Duterte’s last justice secretary, Menardo Guevarra, who served as solicitor general under President Marcos until May last year, looked at an initial 60 cases, and bemoaned the difficulty of finding witnesses and even complainants in suspected EJKs.
There has also been no domestic effort so far to pursue anyone for possible violations of Republic Act 9851, the 2009 law defining and penalizing crimes against international humanitarian law, genocide and other crimes against humanity. This unwillingness or inability to do so prompted the ICC to step in.
Whether the current probe being pushed by the interior department will fare better remains to be seen. Still, any effort to pursue accountability in the bloody war on drugs is a welcome move.
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Credit belongs to: www.philstar.com
