Push Admin

'Secret jail' proves drug war abuses - HRW

Article (news)

ABS-CBN News

<figure class="op-interactive"><div id="IVS_ABS_Body_Video_1_Container"> <ivs-player id="IVS_ABS_Body_Video_1" data-ivs-spid="3001339" data-ivs-key="e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603" data-ivs-vid="1454676" data-ivs-floating="1"></ivs-player> <script src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/js/iframe-parent.js"></script> <script src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/js/loader.js"></script> </div></figure><p>MANILA - International non-government organization Human Rights Watch on Friday condemned President Rodrigo&#x27;s anti-narcotics drive anew following the discovery of a hidden jail for drug suspects in Manila.</p><p>&quot;The discovery of the secret jail is just the latest sign of how police are exploiting Duterte&#x27;s abusive anti-drug campaign for personal gain,&quot; HRW said in a statement.</p><p>Earlier Thursday, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) found 12 men and women detained inside a cramped room hidden behind a bookshelf in the Raxabago police station in Tondo, Manila.</p><p>CHR said there was no record of the arrest and inquest proceedings for the detainees, who alleged that cops held them in the facility for a week, without notifying their families or lawyers.</p><p>The detainees also accused policemen of torturing them and demanding money for their freedom.</p><p>They also claimed that inadequate lighting, ventilation, and toilet facilities forced them &quot;to urinate and [do] bowel movements in plastic bags,&quot; according to CHR-Metro Manila director Gilbert Boisner.</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p dir="ltr" lang="tl">Mga biktima umano ng &#x27;tokhang for ransom&#x27;, natagpuan sa Maynila <a href="https://t.co/C1WJRk6FrQ">https://t.co/C1WJRk6FrQ</a> <a href="https://t.co/kTEoi94CK0">pic.twitter.com/kTEoi94CK0</a></p>— DZMM TeleRadyo (@DZMMTeleRadyo) <a href="https://twitter.com/DZMMTeleRadyo/status/857746191878045696">April 28, 2017</a></blockquote><script async="" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script><p>Supt. Robert Domingo, commander of the Raxabago station, has denied the allegation, insisting instead that those detained in the hidden cell could not mix with other suspects in the station&#x27;s main cell because no case has been filed against them yet.</p><p>Domingo and 12 other officers of the Raxabago station were temporarily <a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/28/17/mpd-station-chief-temporarily-relieved-over-secret-jail">relieved</a> to pave the way for an impartial probe.</p><p>At least two senators have spoken out against the maintenance of a &quot;secret jail&quot; for drug suspects.</p><p>Senator Panfilo Lacson, a former chief of the Philippine National Police, noted: &quot;If true, these policemen are no better than the kidnap-for-ransom gangs that I used to chase throughout my law enforcement career.&quot;</p><p>&quot;Those responsible must therefore be treated no differently from those criminal syndicates that they themselves are mandated to neutralize.&quot;</p><p>Sen. Kiko Pangilinan added that the matter should be investigated thoroughly and wrongdoers swiftly punished.</p><p>&quot;We have seen how PNP uniformed personnel have in the Jee Ick-Joo case, the Espinosa rubout case, and in a number of other cases abused their office under the guise of the war on drugs. If this systemic pattern of abuse is not addressed, I am afraid the war on drugs will fail in its objective of ridding the nation of illegal drugs and instead succeed in spreading lawlessness, police corruption, and abuse,&quot; he said.</p><div><strong>ABUSES</strong></div><p>HRW noted that policemen at the helm of Duterte&#x27;s war on drugs have been tagged in a string of alleged abuses over the past months.</p><p>Last October, anti-narcotics cops allegedly abducted a South Korean businessman and strangled him to death, before demanding a ransom from his family, the group said.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/17/17/kidnapped-south-korean-was-killed-by-filipino-cops">&#x27;Kidnapped South Korean was killed by Filipino cops&#x27;</a></li></ul><p>HRW added that it has exposed a &quot;damning pattern of unlawful police conduct&quot; in the deaths of over 2,000 drug suspects during police operations.</p><p>&quot;Expect unlawful police abuses in the name of Duterte&#x27;s &#x27;war on drugs&#x27; to continue until the United Nations establishes an urgently needed independent, international investigation into the killings and the secret jails that are part of it,&quot; HRW said.</p><p>Malacañang has maintained that the state is not behind extra-judicial slays, as deaths attributed to the police occurred in legitimate operations.</p><p>Duterte also said that his orders to kill and arrest drug suspects come with the caveat that police should operate within the bounds of the law.</p><p>The National Capital Region Police Office and the Philippine National Police-Internal Affairs Service will conduct separate probes into Manila&#x27;s hidden jail.</p>

<p>International non-government organization Human Rights Watch on Friday condemned President Rodrigo's anti-narcotics drive anew following the discovery of a hidden jail for drug suspects in Manila.</p>

International non-government organization Human Rights Watch on Friday condemned President Rodrigo's anti-narcotics drive anew following the discovery of a hidden jail for drug suspects in Manila.