Various human rights groups trooped outside the House of Representatives on Wednesday, to express their support for the filing of Vice President (VP) Sara Duterte’s second impeachment complaint.
The groups were also accompanied by the extrajudicial killings (EJKs) victims’ kin. According to the Karapatan organization, they want to put a stop to EJKs and hold those public officials accountable for the killings that transpired.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Karapatan organization expressed their support for the pending EJK bill which seeks to classify EJK as a heinous crime. The group added that this is an important step in recognizing the role and accountability of State forces in the killings in the country.
“Such a bill should complement and be consistent with existing domestic and international instruments and agreements, including the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL); domestic laws on international humanitarian law, torture, enforced disappearance, and children in situations of armed conflict; and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Geneva Conventions,” Karapatan Deputy Secretary General Atty. Maria Sol Taule said.
EJK Bill
Last October, House Bill No. 10986 was filed by the leaders and members of the House Quad Committee, following the hearings on former President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs.
The group believes that the provisions on the proposed bill should provide stronger protection on military and police operations. Additionally, Tuale highlighted several executions done by the military or police forces who targeted groups and individuals for being part of the New People’s Army (NPA). Tuale added that they were later falsely portrayed as armed combatants who were killed in military encounters.
“Retaining such a provision will put this bill in danger of playing into the bogus ‘nanlaban’ narrative in the case of drug suspects or the fake ‘killed in an encounter’ narrative in the case of activists,” she said.
“It will reinforce the culture of impunity that has shielded masterminds and perpetrators of extrajudicial killings for so long,” she added.
The NTF-ELCAC’s Aftermath
The group also condemned former President Rodrigo Duterte’s National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), as it had been used as a front to red-tag and vilify activists and human rights defenders.
“We cannot discuss any bill on EJKs without citing the state’s role, through the NTF-ELCAC, in justifying and normalizing the extrajudicial killing, enforced disappearance, or unjust arrest and detention on trumped-up charges of activists,” Tuale said.
Although Duterte has been in hot waters since the House conducted its probe on his war against illegal drugs, the group highlighted how the executions during his term spanned from drug suspects, 422 political activists, and the frustrated EJKs of 544 others.
WATCH: Militanteng grupo at mga kaanak ng mga biktima ng EJK, sumugod sa gate ng Kamara para suportahan ang ikalawang impeachment complaints laban kay VP @indaysara | @dzrh5 Val Gonzales, DZRH News pic.twitter.com/2egkhiJyV3
— DZRH NEWS (@dzrhnews) December 4, 2024
“We call on the International Criminal Court to expedite the arrest, prosecution, and trial of Rodrigo Duterte so he can be put behind bars where he belongs,” Tuale stressed.
“At the same time, we demand justice and accountability from the Marcos Jr. regime for continuing the same Duterte-era policies that have engendered the mounting human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law against the Filipino people,” she ended.
