Philippine rights body to investigate President Rodrigo Duterte’s claim he carried out killings
The commission is an independent government body that prosecutes law enforcers or other officials who commit torture, extrajudicial killings or violate Filipinos’ constitutional rights
Duterte, who is waging an anti-drugs war that has left thousands dead, said last week that he helped police kill three suspected kidnappers early in the first of his several terms as mayor of the southern city of Davao.
The team will look into any matter that may further shed light on the killings in Davao
UN rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said Tuesday that Duterte’s killings, by his own admission, “clearly constitute murder” and Philippine judicial authorities must launch an investigation.
Commission on Human Rights chief Jose Gascon said he has formed a team of investigators to look into the matter, even as Duterte’s spokesman Ernesto Abella dismissed the UN call as mere “opinion”.
“Law enforcement agencies ... must investigate as a matter of course any information that suggests that a crime may have been committed with the view to ensuring that perpetrators are ultimately held accountable should the evidence warrant it,” Gascon said in a statement.
The commission is an independent government body that prosecutes law enforcers or other officials who commit torture, extrajudicial killings or violate Filipinos’ constitutional rights.
The commission had investigated then Davao mayor Duterte over allegations he ran death squads that killed more than a thousand petty criminals there.