TURNING POINT: State-sponsored EJKs

NAAWAN, Misamis Oriental (MindaNews / 17 September) – All information distilled by the House committee on extra-judicial killings (EJKs) points out that such unspeakable termination of lives was state-sponsored under the past administration.

The Philippine drug war, known as the War on Drugs, is the intensified anti-drug campaign that began during the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, who served in office from June 30, 2016, to June 30, 2022. The campaign was characterized by the massive elimination of drug suspects via EJKs allegedly perpetrated by the police, so-called vigilantes, and unknown assailants.

The EJKs were state-sponsored because it was encouraged by no less than the Chief Executive of the land. He urged the public to kill drug addicts and pushers, to rid the country of the scum of the earth. His official henchman then, PNP Chief Ronald ”Bato” Dela Rosa, now a senator, came out with an official guideline to execute the wishes of his patron known as PNP’s Command Memorandum Circular (CMC) No. 16-2016, otherwise known as Project Double Barrel. The circular ordered the “neutralization” and “negation” of drug suspects, the PNP operative parlance for the elimination of drug suspects.

The word neutralization is mentioned at least four times and “neutralize” once in the 23-page circular. In Section 2, it stated that Project: Double Barrel would support the Barangay Drug Clearing Strategy of the government and “the neutralization of illegal drug personalities nationwide.”

In Section 5, the CMC stated that the PNP “intends to equally address the drug problem in barangays and at the same time pursue the neutralization of illegal drug personalities as well as the backbone of the illegal drug network operating in the country.”

The CMC specifically directs chiefs of police and anti-illegal drug units to conduct “clearing of drug-affected barangays by focusing on the neutralization of street-level drug personalities” in their areas of operation.

By 2022, the PNP reported that more than 6000 died in police operations. It is estimated by human rights organizations that more than 20,000 civilians have been killed in “anti-drug operations” carried out by the government and its supporters.

It was a dark lamentable chapter of our history.

(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. William R. Adan, Ph.D., is retired professor and former chancellor of Mindanao State University at Naawan, Misamis Oriental.)