{"id":167985,"date":"2018-06-26T06:07:36","date_gmt":"2018-06-26T10:07:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=167985"},"modified":"2018-06-26T06:07:36","modified_gmt":"2018-06-26T10:07:36","slug":"hrw-asks-pnp-to-stop-anti-tambay-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/06\/26\/hrw-asks-pnp-to-stop-anti-tambay-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"HRW asks PNP to stop anti-tambay campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Quezon<\/a>
Quezon City Police District personnel showcased their operational readiness, equipage, competency and capability in a skills demonstration held during the Monday Flag raising ceremony on June 25, 2018 in Camp Crame, Quezon City. (Photo<\/a>: Philippine National Police\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA, Philippines \u2014 The Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday, June 26, called on the Philippine National Police (PNP) to \u201cimmediately end\u201d its anti-loitering policy.<\/p>\n

Phelim Kine, deputy director in HRW\u2019s Asia Division, said that the PNP\u2019s \u2018crime prevention\u2019 campaign is targeted at \u201clow-income Filipinos,\u201d the same group of people whose communities have been \u201cterrorized\u201d by the police\u2019s war on drugs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Philippine National Police are again demonstrating their preference for wielding fear, intimidation, and arbitrary arrest to target vulnerable communities rather than respect for the rule of law,\u201d Kine said.<\/p>\n

According to the HRW, the arrestees are typically \u201cnot brought before a judge, but detained for a period and then released, though sometimes criminal charges are brought.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rights watchdog also raised concerns on the \u201cpoor and inhumane health and hygiene conditions\u201d of the \u201cgrossly overcrowded detention centers\u201d where the arrested tambays <\/em>(loiterers) are brought.<\/p>\n

\u201cOvercrowding of Philippine jails has long made them hazardous to detainees\u2019 health because of inadequate food, ventilation, health care, and toilet facilities,\u201d the HRW said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a result, pulmonary illnesses such as tuberculosis, skin infections, diarrhea, and sepsis run rampant among detainees,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

The HRW also cited the alleged prevalence of \u201ctorture and other forms of ill-treatment\u201d in the country\u2019s detention centers, noting the case of Genesis \u201cTisoy\u201d Agoncillo, a \u201cloitering\u201d suspect who died while in the custody of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD).<\/p>\n

The QCPD initially said that Agoncillo died after experiencing difficulty in breathing. His death certificate, however, showed the presence of \u201cmultiple blunt force trauma” in his “neck, head, chest, and upper extremities,\u201d indicating foul play.<\/p>\n

The HRW further argued that the anti-loitering policy is \u201carbitrarily ensnaring Filipinos who are lawfully on the streets at night,\u201d citing the complaints of two call center agents who were arrested and detained in a Makati police station for standing outside their friend\u2019s residence. They remained in custody for an hour but were eventually released.<\/p>\n

These types of arrests, the HRW said, evoke \u201cmemories of arbitrary police targeting of the urban poor during the 1972-1981 martial law period under the late President Ferdinand Marcos.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Philippine government should protect the basic rights of all Filipinos rather than let the police demolish them on the pretext of a \u2018crime prevention\u2019 campaign,\u201d the rights watchdog said.<\/p>\n

The crackdown against loiterers followed after President Rodrigo Duterte on June 13 told the PNP to be strict in its policy against loiterers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAng mga<\/em> criminals dapat diyan, ang mga durugista<\/em> (The criminals and drug addicts), they are not supposed to be there [on the streets]. So my directive is \u2018pag mag-istambay-istambay diyan sa, sabihin niyo, \u2018Umuwi kayo. Kay \u2018pag hindi kayo umuwi ihatid ko kayo doon sa opisina ni ano<\/em> \u2014 Pasig [River] (\u2018if there are people loitering there, tell them, \u2018Go home. If you won\u2019t, I will bring you to the Office of the President), he said.<\/p>\n

The President on June 20 clarified that he did not order the arrest of any loiterers but simply expressed his disapproval of loitering.<\/p>\n

\u201cWala namang inaaresto<\/em> (No one is being arrested). I just don\u2019t want you using the streets to loiter,\u201d Duterte said in his speech in Iloilo City.<\/p>\n

He, however, changed his tune today, June 26, by saying that the police can arrest loitering minors, and defended that the police\u2019s anti-loitering campaign is legal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat to me is legal, until the Supreme Court says it is illegal. Until the Supreme Court says they cannot do it. I am now invoking the police power of the state to establish order, safety [and] that is not subject to a legislation,” he said.<\/p>\n

“You take them into custody not to arrest them, but for their own safety, to protect them. We are removing the minors, take them into custody, tawagin mo yang<\/em> DSW(D) diyan<\/em>, pati yung\u00a0<\/em>(call the DSWD there, including the) barangay. You take care…sabi ni<\/em> Mayor, paarestuhin ‘yan<\/em>\u00a0(the Mayor said, arrest them) for their own protection. They are not being arrested for any crime, it’s for their own good that they are arrested,\u201d Duterte added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA, Philippines \u2014 The Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday, June 26, called on the Philippine National Police (PNP) to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":167986,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[52223,23425,12364,52002,52224,3311,13412,2444],"class_list":["post-167985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-anti-tambay-campaign","tag-hrw","tag-human-rights-watch","tag-loitering","tag-philem-kine","tag-qcpd","tag-quezon-city-police-district","tag-rodrigo-duterte","mauthors-katherine-padilla","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}