PNP urged to clarify misconception on summary executions

Sen. Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday urged the Philippine National Police (PNP) anew to clarify the figures on summary executions to further avoid misconception coming from the public. (Photo: Philippine National Police/ Facebook)

MANILA—Sen. Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday urged the Philippine National Police (PNP) anew to clarify the figures on summary executions to further avoid misconception coming from the public.

In an interview, Lacson said that it was only fair for PNP chief Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa to state the figures they had to correct the figures mentioned by Vice Pres. Leni Robredo in her video to the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs.

To recall, Robredo, in her video, criticized the conduct of the administration’s campaign against illicit drugs and stated that “more than 7,000 people have been killed in summary executions” since the drug war started in July 2016.

Data from the PNP stated that there were only 2,582 killed in legitimate drug operations while the remaining 4,049 were deaths under investigation.

“Pinapaliwanag niya lang naman dito, di lahat na 7,000 or thereabouts e napatay dahil sa kaso ng illegal drugs. At di lahat yan napatay sa labas ng police operations. I think in fairness to the PNP, marapat na ipaliwanag nila kasi nga nagkakaroon ng maraming misconception (He is only explaining that not all the 7,000 were killed because of illegal drugs. And not all killed are outside police operations. I think in fairness to the PNP, it is necessary that they clarify the misconception),” Lacson said.

Lacson, former PNP chief, previously criticized Robredo’s message stressing that it was not true that the 7,000 people she mentioned were all victims of summary executions.

“Maliwanag naman di sa summary execution. Paano mangyayaring summary execution lahat kung may namatay pa ngang pulis at AFP? (It is clear that these are not (all) summary executions. How could it be summary executions if there are police and AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines personnel) killed?” the senator said.

“Ako, coming from law enforcement, coming from the PNP, gusto ko lang ituwid ang ganoong pananalita. And when you are reporting to an international body like the UN, dapat accurate ang datos mo (Me, coming from law enforcement, coming from the PNP, I just want to correct that statement. And when you are reporting to an international body like the UN, your data should be accurate),” he added.

Lacson admitted that regardless of the watered down figures, he did not completely agree that the killings were state-sanctioned.

“Ang EJK kailangan ipruweba mo muna. Wala pa tayong nakikitang sa ganoon. At kung meron man, dapat panagutan nila (The EJK (extrajudicial killings) need proof. We haven’t seen that yet. If there is, they must take responsibility for their actions),” he said.