Rights advocates have expressed their alarm over the recent killing of a minor at the hands of six Navotas police, noting that the incident fits into a pattern of police forces' indiscriminate shooting.
Rights group Karapatan said that the Navotas police’s claim of killing 17-year-old Jemboy Baltazar due to “mistaken identity” is also a “flimsy excuse" as it stresses the need for all police personnel to exercise due diligence in going after suspects.
What the Navotas police allegedly did was “cold-blooded murder,” a representative from Karapatan said.
“They should in fact exercise due diligence in every police operation. It is far worse to hear that they continued shooting when the victims were already in submission,” Karapatan spokesperson Michelle Agcaoili said in a statement.
Karapatan also correlates the incident to the cases of Kian delos Santos, Carl Arnaiz, and other individuals killed in the drug war launched by the Duterte administration.
According to them, the incidents continue to occur due to a perceived lack of respect for life and rights within the police force.
“The killings are clearly not over and these killings continue because it remains part of the police's orientation and mindset to kill, kill, kill,” Agcaoili said.
Rep. Arlene Brosas (Gabriela Women's Party) concurred, denouncing the shooting and bringing attention to the "culture of impunity."
Rights advocates have expressed their alarm over the recent killing of a minor at the hands of six Navotas police officers, noting that the incident fits into a pattern of police forces' indiscriminate shooting.
Rights group Karapatan said that the Navotas police’s claim of killing 17-year-old Jemboy Baltazar due to "mistaken identity" is also a "flimsy excuse," as it stresses the need for all police personnel to exercise due diligence in going after suspects.
What the Navotas police allegedly did was "cold-blooded murder," a representative from Karapatan said.
"They should in fact exercise due diligence in every police operation. It is far worse to hear that they continued shooting when the victims were already in submission," Karapatan spokesperson Michelle Agcaoili said in a statement.
Karapatan also correlates the incident to the cases of Kian delos Santos, Carl Arnaiz, and other individuals killed in the drug war launched by the Duterte administration.
According to them, the incidents continue to occur due to a perceived lack of respect for life and rights within the police force.
"The killings are clearly not over, and these killings continue because it remains part of the police's orientation and mindset to kill, kill, kill," Agcaoili said.
Rep. Arlene Brosas of Gabriela Women's Party concurred, denouncing the shooting and bringing attention to the "culture of impunity" that still exists among the nation's police enforcement agencies.
Navotas police officers mistakenly shot Baltazar, thinking he was the suspect.
According to Col. Allan Umipig, the chief of the Navotas City police department, six police officers have been taken into custody and charged in connection with the event, including the officer who fired what he believed to be warning bullets into the water.
Umipig has also admitted that there were police lapses of judgment throughout the operation.
"We will submit a House resolution to investigate the brutal actions of the Philippine National Police against the very citizens they are tasked to serve and protect," Brosas noted.
