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Extrajudicial killings in the Philippines: Letter by the Civil Society Forum on Drugs
requesting the European Union to take urgent action

By: Isnihaya H.S. Magumpara, Grade 10, PSHS-CMC

Extra Judicial Killing is the illegal execution of a person by governmental authorities

without undergoing any official judicial proceeding or any legal process. Extrajudicial
Punishments are indeed unlawful by nature as it break the process of legal jurisdiction in which
they occur. Most of the times Extrajudicial Killing targets the leading politicians, religious figures,
trade unions leaders and sometimes socially popular figures. Extrajudicial killings and death
squads are happening in Central America, Middle East, Central Asia, several nations or regions in
Africa, Jamaica, Kosovo, parts of South America, Russia, Uzbekistan, Thailand and in the
Philippines. One of the most recent issues regarding extrajudicial killing has been the debate about
the legal and moral status of targeted killing by unmanned aerial vehicles or DRONE by the United
States under the guise of national security. Extrajudicial killing is, therefore, happening all over
the world.

The primary concern of a father is to secure the future of his children. The President, being
the "Father of the Nation" made it his prime duty to make the future of the Filipinos free from drug
abuse, criminality, corruptions, and other wrongdoings. Catching murderers to maintain peoples
protection and helping crime victims get justice are among the tasks of the police. President Duterte
rose to power carrying his promise of his anti-crime platform and significantly curb criminality
and the drug menace within three to six months. In the very beginning of Dutertes campaign, he
made no secret of his planned method of bringing peace and order. The president says he is merely
fulfilling his campaign promise to protect the Filipino people from the drugs menace that always
resulted into the rapes, the robberies, and the kidnappings, the wanton indiscriminate killings of
men, women, the elderly, and the children, and the proliferation of addicts roaming the streets,
corruption and criminality. The drug crisis hurt so many people including parents who raised their
children from childhood to college. It is understood that good governance, peace and order are
requisites for the progress of any nation.

However, the campaign has resulted too many deaths all over the country both in a
legitimate police operations and the alleged extrajudicial killing which have been criticized even
by the United Nations. The United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime(UNODC) and the
International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) condemned Dutertes strategy, stating that the
killings do not serve the cause of justice and constitute a serious breach to the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights(UDHR) of the United Nations to which the Philippines was a
signatory. Personally, I dont believe that shoot to kill is the best way to achieve the goal of a
safer country because if shoot to kill is followed what we would end up with are even more
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vigilantes walking the streets with a convoluted sense of wild wild west justice. This is not the
way to make things safe again. In fact, things might get even more dangerous. The suspect must
be prosecuted, convicted, penalized and, where possible, rehabilitated. The case must stand in
court, which requires arresting or raiding officers to know the legal requirements and observe due
process at all times. It is a fact that President Duterte is a very popular president for he was voted
by large number of Filipinos in the last presidential election. These people who voted for him were
desperate for change, dont always have a voice. We need to help be their voice. We all deserve
justice, those who are guilty should be held accountable, however, due process has to be observed.
We need to live in a world governed by law. The core feature that distinguishes a civilized society
from an uncivilized one that the former is governed by law and the latter is not. A vital portion of
that feature is the principle that no one is above the law" from the highest office holder to the
most disadvantaged individual. The modern state, through the organ of the judiciary, has been
given the power to put someone to death. We underscore the fact that the judiciary is the only
organ of the state, not the executive or legislative that enjoys this exceptional power. The judiciary
has been allowed this power under very special circumstances and that also after a thorough and
lengthy process of law has been completed. Why has so many preconditions been imposed on the
judiciary before it can exercise its power of sentencing to death? Simply because life is the
Creators greatest gift to Humankind and the Right to Life" is the most fundamental of universal
recognized human rights, and once taken it can never been restored.

In line with this, I support the call on European Union and the United Nations investigative
body on drugs and human rights abuses and the Rapporteur to come and conduct an impartial
investigation on the matter. Bring with them the best technology available, the forensic equipment
and investigative technique they know. But I do not agree with Civil Society Forum on Drugs
request on the European Union to make an action without first conducting a proper and thorough
investigation. This heroism of an aging man is not much for his selfish interest or for his
aggrandizement but much more for us, his avowed raisons d'etre, otherwise he could just settle
down to the comfort of a normal life which has always been there. If he fights for us, our enemies,
past, present, or future, including probably any imagined ones, are his enemies, too. This is the
prize for fighting for a hundred million people of all walks of life. In return, if we cannot help in
his struggle, if we cannot be a part of the solution, let us not be a part of the problem. It was quite
a long time that we have been waiting for some one who would go out there and fight for the well-
being and protection of the Filipino people. Furthermore, while it is true that European Union is a
big contributor and partner in the fiscal aspect of our country and even in the area of justice and
human rights, still the action of European Union must be based on facts. President Duterte invited
United Nations Rapporteur to come to the Philippines and investigate the issue. Last September 2,
Pia Ranada of RAPPLER has reported that he (Pres. Duterte) ordered government agencies to
investigate mysterious killings. The Philippine National Police has said it is investigating around
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900 such killings. There were numerous reports that criminals kill criminals. Even police officers
and politicians are indicted on this issue. Those police officers or political warlords are killings
their "bata-bata to silence them thus shielding themselves from investigation and indictment. This
needs a full-blown investigation regardless of whom he/she maybe. Let the justice takes it course.

We all want to live in a safe society. We want to be able to raise our children in a safer
world. I commend the president on his mission to stamp our crime, drugs and violence in the
Philippines. I believe that those who are guilty including the perpetrators of extrajudicial killings
should be punished. On that note, we are all aligned in wanting a better country. However, there
has to be a way to do this while letting due process and the rule of law prevail. Each time a person
is denied trial, the legal system of the country is undermined. Each time the law enforcing agencies
are allowed to randomly kill" a suspect, the government creates a backlash. Each time police take
a persons life without the due process of law, the government itself becomes a lawbreaker and
reduces itself, in a sense to the level of those that it is trying to punish. An inevitable consequence
of this process is that the legally constituted greatly loses its moral authority to government.