Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes. NOY MORCOSO/INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO
The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and leftist coalition Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) are in agreement: the abduction, extortion and killing of Korean Jee Ick-joo, by no less than police officers, has shown that the Duterte administration’s “war on drugs” has just worsened the culture of impunity.
“Amid the rising toll of extrajudicial killings in the country, the so-called ‘war on drugs’ has become a convenient cover for rogue elements within the Philippine National Police to commit other crimes, such as kidnapping for ransom of foreign nationals,” the human rights agency said in a statement.
In a protest rally outside the PNP headquarters on Friday, Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes made a similar observation: “The war on drugs is now just being used [as an excuse] to commit other crimes like kidnapping for ransom and murder, and no one is being held accountable.”
“We call on the President not to give a blanket endorsement for the ‘war on drugs’ as justification for killings, because now the police think it’s okay to commit crimes because they won’t be held liable for it,” Reyes said in Filipino.
