De Lima slams PNP’s report of zero cases of EJKs

“The administration is fooling us,” she said.
(Photo: Leila De Lima/ Facebook)

The vocal critic of the Duterte administration, detained Senator Leila De Lima released a statement criticizing the recent claim of Malacañang and the Philippine National Police (PNP) that there are zero cases of extra-judicial killings (EJKs) since President Rodrigo Duterte took office.

The Palace and PNP reasoned that the term “extra-judicial killing” only applies to the slaying of cause-oriented militant organizations members and media. Therefore, using that definition, there are no recorded “extra-judicial killing” in the Duterte administration.

The former justice secretary admitted that the Administrative Order No. 35 with the purpose of “creating the inter-agency committee on extra-legal killings, enforced disappearances, torture and other grave violations of the right to life, liberty and security of persons” did not seek an all-encompassing definition of EJK.

She stressed that the creation of an inter-agency committee is to entirely investigate the killings of activists and media personnel which were the prevalent cases of EJKs during the Arroyo Administration and even under the Aquino Administration.

“It was to limit and to make clear that the mandate of the committee was not to investigate any and all cases of EJKs but only those that involved activists and media personnel slain during the Arroyo Administration and even under the Aquino Administration, albeit with the latter registering much fewer no. of incidents.”

Mocking the misinterpretation of the administration of A.O. 35, De Lima said: “Of course, it was then farthest from my mind to spell out in big capital letters and large fonts that AO 35’s DEFINITION OF EJKs WAS ONLY FOR PURPOSES OF ITS OPERATIONALIZATION AND IMPLEMENTATION, i.e., the investigation by the inter-agency committee of the killings of activists and journalists, and not for purposes of freeing public officials from accountability for state-sanctioned murder.”

“I did not know then that the Administration succeeding the Aquino Administration will be populated by hustlers, wags and falsifiers who think they can get away with murder if this proviso in AO 35 is written in small font only,” she added.

“A.O. 35 had to be clear about the nature of the EJKs it was to investigate in order to be effective, lest the urgency of investigating the kind of rampant EJKs then committed under the immediately preceding administration of President Arroyo would lose focus,” the senator wrote.

Furthermore, De Lima called out Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) officials Martin Andanar and Ernesto Abella, Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alan Peter Cayetano, and the PNP  for acting as “originator of the tactic in muddling A.O. 35.”

“All they are fooling are themselves, in their belief that they can get away with the murder of thousands.” De Lima said.

“No amount of spin and deception can cover-up the double-digit plunge of Duterte’s popularity in one survey period, a plunge that came precisely from the people’s belief and fear that anyone of them or their loved ones can now be the victim of EJKs anytime,” she added.

‘One death is too many’

After backing PNP’s statement of ‘zero extra-judicial killings’ in the country,  Malacañang said that it is addressing the problem.

“We wish to emphasize that one death is one too many,” Abella said.

“Regardless of this definition, these deaths are being addressed to ensure the accountability of perpetrators, even as it calls upon witnesses and individuals who can provide valuable evidence that will lead to speedy resolution of cases,” he added.