PNP Reopens Review of EJK Allegations as CIDG Ordered to Revisit Drug War Records on NewsLine Philippines - Building Information Highway for the Community
MANILA, Philippines (May 10)—MANILA, Philippines — Nearly a decade after the bloody anti-drug campaign that reshaped Philippine policing and left thousands dead, the Philippine National Police (PNP) has quietly reopened a fact-finding review into alleged extrajudicial killings (EJKs), reviving unresolved questions surrounding some of the country’s most controversial police operations.
The renewed inquiry, ordered following directives from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), places the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) at the center of a fresh examination of operational reports, complaints, and testimonies tied to past anti-drug and anti-criminality campaigns.
The move signals what may become one of the most politically sensitive internal reviews undertaken by the police organization in recent years — one that could revisit decisions, operations, and command structures implemented during the height of the Duterte administration’s war on drugs.
At Camp Crame on Sunday, Interior Secretary Juanito Victor “Jonvic” Remulla moved to dispel speculation surrounding reports that an international red notice had allegedly been issued against Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, the former police chief widely identified as one of the principal architects of the anti-drug campaign.
“I have not seen any copy, and I have no information confirming a red notice. There is none,” Remulla said.
But beyond the clarification, officials confirmed that police investigators have been instructed to revisit records linked to previous operations, including incidents dating back to the period when Dela Rosa served as Davao City police director before becoming chief of the Philippine National Police under former President Rodrigo Duterte.
PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. described the process as a “continuing investigation” aimed at reconstructing operational circumstances through reports, affidavits, and available evidence.
“This is a continuing investigation. We will examine available reports and documents to ensure we have a complete and factual account,” Nartatez said.
The CIDG has been directed to begin issuing subpoenas to individuals named in previous reports and operational documents, including police personnel and other personalities who may provide testimony or clarification in aid of investigation.
Police officials stressed that the subpoenas are not arrest warrants, but legal instruments intended to compel attendance and gather sworn statements as investigators piece together the circumstances surrounding controversial operations.
“Ang mahalaga dito ay maayos at patas ang proseso,” Nartatez said. “This is part of due process.”
The investigation will be jointly supervised by the CIDG, the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM), and the PNP Legal Service in what officials described as an effort to ensure legal defensibility and institutional transparency.
Yet the reopening of EJK-related reviews touches a nerve that has never fully disappeared from public consciousness.
For years, human rights organizations, families of victims, and international observers have questioned police narratives surrounding anti-drug operations that frequently ended in deadly encounters officially described as nanlaban incidents — a term used when suspects allegedly fought back during police operations.
Critics have long argued that many of the killings followed recurring operational patterns: identical encounter narratives, absence of independent witnesses, and reports of suspects being killed during supposedly legitimate police actions.
Police officials involved in the anti-drug campaign, however, have consistently defended the operations as lawful responses against armed suspects, violent syndicates, and deeply entrenched narcotics networks operating nationwide.
The renewed review now places investigators in the difficult position of examining not only individual operations, but also the institutional culture and operational environment that shaped the country’s anti-drug campaign during one of the most violent periods in modern Philippine law enforcement.
Officials clarified that no arrest orders have been issued as of this time.
Still, the decision to reopen case records signals growing pressure on the institution to confront lingering allegations that continue to shadow the legacy of the drug war both domestically and internationally.
Nartatez maintained that the investigation would proceed “without fear or favor,” emphasizing that the objective is to establish facts rather than target individuals prematurely.
“Walang sinisino,” he said. “Basta ang mahalaga ay lumabas ang katotohanan.”
But as the CIDG begins revisiting records buried for years inside police archives, the inquiry threatens to reopen one of the country’s deepest and most divisive national wounds: whether the war against drugs merely pushed law enforcement to its limits or crossed them.-Editha Z Caduaya
The post PNP Reopens Review of EJK Allegations as CIDG Ordered to Revisit Drug War Records appeared first on NewsLine Philippines.
PNP Reopens Review of EJK Allegations as CIDG Ordered to Revisit Drug War Records
Newspaper Updates PH
0 comentários :
Post a Comment