President himself expressed during his first State of the Nation Address in

July 2016, “there can never be real, tangible, and felt development without making our
people feel secure.” The President has his own brand of Human Rights, and that is, by
making the people feel safe in their homes, and make the streets a safer place for everyone,
but of course some say that a healthy politics is one with an opposing critic, the President
has been labeled as a “Dictator” and some of his nicknames are the “Trump of the East” ,
“Duterte Harry” ( a moniker of a film character Dirty Harry) and the most famous of all is
“ The Punisher” so why was he called as such? The Marvel character The Punisher is the
mortal enemy of criminals, hence he as a mayor back then in Davao was considered to be
the mortal enemy of the criminals.
Ever since the assumption of President Duterte in the highest position in the
executive branch of the Philippines, things have changed drastically, for he had been
known for his strong position regarding criminality specifically the illegal drugs, many
have clamored over his winning on the position of the presidency since the people of the
Philippines has been wanting to have a change when it comes to the public safety, for as
we all know that criminals of today are a lot more bolder and smarter and such advancement
should be equated by a more capable law enforcement strategies and tactics, now, back to
the president, the president has been considered to be a seasoned and successful mayor as
shown in the development that the city of Davao has received during his years of
leadership, a feat that has been his tool in gaining the confidence of the citizen of the
Philippines in his candidacy,
The techniques the president have employed in Davao in combatting
criminality has been used by the Philippine National Police in its campaign against illegal
drugs, at the onset of the term by the president the law enforcement agencies has been very
busy due to the president`s goal in eradicating illegal drugs for 6 months, which we all
know did not materialize, however, I applauded him still for the success in deterring the
would be criminals, but along with it are the deaths of many people caused by the aggresive
campaign against illegal drugs, Philippine National Police has been spearheading the
Campaign which they named as Oplan Double Barrel, Philippine National Police plays a
major role in the campaign and is thus the present condition of our human rights may have
been greatly caused by the said agency,
In this article I would like to dig deeper as to the cause why the condition of
human rights today catches the attention of many human rights advocate, to do so, I will
initially discuss on the major player in the anti-illegal drugs campaign, that is the,
Philippine national Police,
 The Philippines national police have reported that 4,354 deaths have been
recorded during the anti-illegal drug operations, and 147,802 has been arrested out 102,
630 police operations and allegedly a lot of extra judicial killings have transpired during
the incumbency o the President
The police may have had committed human rights violation during their
course of duties, however, this of course will not justify their acts unless they indeed acted
for their own protection, constitutional guarantee for the accused’s protection has been
disregarded and this caused the rampant human rights violation, so why is it that police
officers are committing this violation of human rights?
RA 6975 as amended by RA 8551 provides for the qualifications before one
could be a member of the Philippine National Police, the educational requirement is
bachelor’s degree, it does not require a degree which is related to public safety, like for
example, a graduate of a hotel restaurant management could be a member of the Philippine
National Police provided that he pass all of the medical and neurological examinations
during recruitment. And another basic qualification is possessing an eligibility, the law
requires either board , bar or NAPOLCOM examination, so basically If one wishes to join
the Police force , NAPOLCOM exam could get one through , the NAPOLCOM`s exam
coverage is basic college subjects such as English, Mathematics, Logic, and Science, again
it does not test an applicant’s knowledge in legal aspect, and during actual training , that is
the only time that a recruit would encounter subjects on law, but still 6 months of academic
would not suffice to equip a recruit in proper legal knowledge when operating in the real
crime scenarios, a police officer that doesn’t have adequate knowledge in law or
constitution could cause more danger than good, because of course, the constitution, ,
criminal law and criminal procedures are very much of technical subject matters, one who
have studied it can have difficulties in its application in real life scenarios what more a
police officer who doesn’t even know its existence? Or one may have knowledge but not
adequate enough to have a good decision making in critical situations, we must remember
that law enforcers are dealing with citizens who are protected by their constitutional rights,
so, the result of a police operation executed by those who are not properly knowledgeable
in law, is either would cause a violation of human rights against the civilians , or the police
officer be charged of its violation, a law enforcer cannot enforce the law properly if` one
does not know of what and how the law should be implemented, hence I am in favor if
more and constant legal education should be given to every member of the Philippine
National Police in order to be more effective and efficient, human rights is not just by law,
it is a God given gift which everybody must respect and not be violated whether it be
intentional or by negligence,
 The Oplan Double barrel is the strategy devised in the implementation of the
anti-illegal drugs campaign its purpose is to equally address illegal drug problems in the
barangays and at the same time pursue the neutralization of illegal drug personalities as
well as the backbone of illegal drugs network operating in the country as included in the
Memorandum as released by the PNP memorandum it sets out guidelines for the 5 stages
of Tokhang, the latter being also assailed by Human rights advocate as being in violation
of the Constitutional rights, the Philippine National Police has likewise halted the operation
Tokhang for being assailed of its unconstitutionality, also many police officers have been
complained of a violation of Human Rights , as a precaution the Philippine National Poilce
has included in the Memorandum guidelines in the procedures of Internal cleansing, it
created the Counter Intelligence Task Force in combatting those Skalawag Police officer
whose acts are almost always violative of the Human rights of the People.
Looking in to the opinions, reports, news and any other form conveyance of
information, when Human rights issue has been discussed, most would comment that we
are in a stage where basic Human rights is deteriorating because the state agents have been
the primary violators, however the President would response in his own fashion, by stating
that what he holds sacred is the welfare of the Filipino , and that if one would want to be a
President he must be prepared to kill and be killed, of course the President is know for his
iron fist and colorful way of speaking, but behind that, one will find that indeed the
President loves his fellow country men and would risk anything just to meet the ends, him
most often citing of the Machiavellian principle, true, that the result of his aggressive stance
would weed out the undesirables in the society, however it will of course not be justified if
it has been made unconstitutionally, but the question is, is there really a government
consented violation of human rights?
Specifically, the allegation of extra judicial killings, The Philippine
government has been a subject of assault by the international community regarding such
matter, and the President has employed the services of the former senator Alan Peter
Cayetano in order to deal with the Foreign matters
If we would base the answer from the Universal Periodic Review by our
National Report to the Human Rights Council, its contents, as mentioned by the President
that there is no State policy that promotes, condones, sanctions or encourages extra judicial
killings, nor a policy to kill drug traffickers, criminals, or dissenters and must at all times
that Police and Military personnel must observe Constitutional rights, accordingly even the
Commissioner of the CHR who heads the task force on the Extra Judicial killings
acknowledges that, in the absence of government policy, the alleged EJKs cannot be
considered state-sponsored. But of course, that is the report of the State being reviewed,
basically report would in all possible way interpose all denials of the allegations. However,
I myself was quite surprised by the contents of the Report by the Working Group of
Universal Periodic Review here in the Philippines, it mentions that critics had changed the
definition of extrajudicial killings, thereby deceiving the public and the media into
believing that there had been a sudden wave of State sponsored extrajudicial killings and
also it again mentions that there had been a deliberate attempt to include all homicides
related to the campaign against illegal drugs as extrajudicial killings and to say that they
were State sponsored, while the increase in police operations had resulted in more people
surrendering, there were also people who violently resisted arrest, which in turn led to more
deaths. Although deaths arising from law enforcement operations were presumed to be
legitimate, they were automatically investigated. So, for me judging by the statements
included in the reports on the universal periodic reviews, the doctrine of command
responsibility is not applicable, hence it is safe to say that there are no state sponsored
killings., the reports are product of a comprehensive investigations, considering that the
working group are persons of expertise in their respective fields and no unfounded basis
will be taken by them to use as fact. So how the concept of state sponsored extra judicial
killing has spurred in Philippine mainstream? As mentioned, a while ago in the 3rd cycle
report of the working group by Universal Periodic Review. It stated that it is the critics that
has labeled the deaths in the Anti Illegal Drugs campaign as extra judicial killings.
The Commission on Human Rights has always been the critic of the
President, it has come to the point that the Commission was threatened by the then House
Speaker Alvarez of a peso budget, since the former being so uncooperative in the
President`s cause, however The Senate added P156.4 million to the proposed 2018 budget
of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), in stark contrast to the proceedings in the
House of Representatives, the Senate has submitted for plenary approval the CHR budget
for next year amounting to P693.5 million, this is higher than the House version of P537.7
million. The CHR originally proposed P651.9 million in the National Expenditure
Program, hence in order to balance things out the Commission should still be an effective
agency of the government, to oversee all of the human rights condition.
A crime/drug free society is the way of truly protecting the Human rights,
Secretary of foreign affairs Alan Peter Cayetano mentioned during his speech in the UN
general assembly mentioned that ‘’The Philippines integrates the human rights agenda in
its development initiatives for the purpose of protecting everyone, especially the most
vulnerable, from lawlessness, violence, and anarchy,”
Aggressive campaign against criminality would then result of inflating
number of arrested personalities, this could again pose another Human rights problem, it
was never new in the Philippines that detention and prison facilities being overly
congested, the present jail infrastructures cannot cope up with the growing number of
detainees, as a bare witness of such jail congestions, no technical knowledge is needed to
say that it has definitely violated the basic Human rights of detainees, and it appears to be
a perennial problem where it has become a common thing, where of course in fact it should
not and never be, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner and Optional
Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) have provided for guidelines as to the basic
Human Rights of the detained persons, we may feel really dismayed regarding the
sufferings of the detained persons because the required space per head of an inmate in every
cell is not followed, so, most of them are catching each other`s diseases as an added burden
worst thing that could also happen is that it would possibly in turn result to untimely demise
inside the congested jail facilities, as how comprehensive the guidelines laid out under the
Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel,
Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, it appears that the Philippines is a poor
compliant of such.
Philippine jails are probably on of the most degrading jail facilities in the
world, as depressing as it is, figures will no longer be shown, BJMP director mentioned
that each prisoner has an allocated budget of P10 a day for medicine and P60 for food,
which the Director described an amount "insufficient in providing quality and decent meals
and at times subject of corruption by jail officials." The BJMP currently has a budget of
P11.6 billion. Imagine as little budget BJMP has received for their function, government
officers would still resort to corrupting the agency budget notwithstanding the risk of lives
of detainees are facing. The President however in his last visit in a prison facility applauded
and mentioned that he is rather happy and sees that the condition of the prisoners is OK, a
statement I, of course, disagreed.
Inmates are already suffering because of their penalties after being convicted,
staying in the jail or prison facilities is a heavy burden since it would last for a very long
time, not being able to do things freely and being constantly away from their families, it is
a physical and psychological punishment endured by every inmate, but the most
burdensome and feared by the inmates is the prison condition, for example a newly
convicted inmate (usually called rookie or sophomore in jail parlance) would bear the most
burden in the prison, as the lowest mammal in the jail he would be subject of several abuses,
like being beaten up, being assigned to clean the cell, sexual abuses by fellow inmates and
not be able to sleep properly since the cell is very much congested, he could only be able
to sleep while standing. the jail is definitely the best ground for Human rights violation,
the truth in which people must accept, for as the saying goes, truth usually hurts, legislators
must accept the fact that our penal system and the culture within the prisons is a playground
for human rights violators, it would rather instead render the whole system of rehabilitation
to nugatory, thus posing another problem of failed rehabilitation and resulting that
reintegration of the ex-convict troublesome, we cannot blame the community for not freely
accepting the former inmates, although it is the duty of the community to accept the
rehabilitated inmate, however it is true that inmates are not always rehabilitated while
inside the prison facilities.
However, to cope with the overcrowded condition of jails aggravated by the
increasingnumber of inmates, BJMP conducted a jail decongestion program composed of
paralegal program designed to assist inmates’ availing of legal modes of release and to
fast-track the adjudication of cases, construction of additional jail buildings and
improvement of existing facilities, and adoption of a legislative agenda that resulted in the
passage of laws on decongestion such as Time Allowances Law (R.A. 10592), Release on
Recognizance Act (R.A. 10389), and Revised Subsidiary Imprisonment Law (R.A.10159).
From 2013-2015, 117,591 inmates were released through the BJMP Paralegal
Program.2016, Congress appropriated P 330 million for BJMP’s construction of about
16,500 square meters jail space. This was a substantial increase from the previous year’s
P39 million worth of capital outlay. In 2017, an unprecedented amount of almost P 1.7
billion was approved for the construction of jails; the government expects this to add jail
space of about 85,000 square meters and to ease jail congestion by 420%.

For my last words, I have been in the Public service for almost nine years,
and most of my time spent in career has been dealing with the real situation of the public.
Drugs, violence, petty crimes, and other crimes all of which I have encountered and saw
the actual situation of our Human rights, whether it be committed by an offender or by my
colleagues, the violation of Human rights will never be solved, it is a natural phenomenon
and as such can only be controlled and will never be completely eradicated. This is the first
time that I have encountered that the President himself is greatly involved in resolving
security problems in our State, I also admired his political will, but of course not everyone
would be grateful in his way, especially if agents of the government are going beyond what
the Constitution permits, as of course seen in the case of a killed teenager named Kian, the
Police operatives have been convicted by the Regional Trial Court for not adhering to what
should be accorded to the suspected criminal offenders. It is never easy to be changing our
regular ways and go out of our comfort zone, some people might have already accepted the
fate of the State, that we are now becoming a Narco State, but as I said, going out of our
comfort zone and sacrificing a little could do good, in our case as a police officer, our share
is, being out there in the streets and exert efforts every day to do better. In such way as the
first line of defense our Human rights conditions would little by little improve, also with
the help of our community no success can be made with no genuine cooperation.

Reference:
Read more at https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/10/19/1750414/degrading-jail-
conditions-belie-dutertes-impressions#4csP3YUAzalT79sq.99

Report of the Working Group on the Universal

Periodic Review* 3rd cycle
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rights-war-on-drugs-united-nations-un-general-assembly-unga-dfa#ixzz5ZGJLRtXv
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National report on Universal Periodic Review

Republic Act No. 6975 December 13, 1990

AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE PHILIPPINE NATIONAL POLICE UNDER A
REORGANIZED DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT,
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

Republic Act No. 8551 February 25, 1998

AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE REFORM AND REORGANIZATION OF THE
PHILIPPINE NATIONAL POLICE AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES, AMENDING
CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF REPUBLIC ACT NUMBERED SIXTY-NINE HUNDRED
AND SEVENTY-FIVE ENTITLED, "AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE PHILIPPINE
NATIONAL POLICE UNDER A RE-ORGANIZED DEPARTMENT OF THE
INTERIOR AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES"

COMMAND MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR

NO. 16 - 2016
SUBJECT : PNP ANTI-ILLEGAL DRUGS CAMPAIGN PLAN -
PROJECT: "DOUBLE BARREL"