PNP hopes US House will reconsider halting aid over drug killings

The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Wednesday said it hopes that an amendment passed by the US House of Representatives limiting US assistance to the police organization will be reconsidered.

In a press conference, PNP spokesperson Police Colonel Jean Fajardo said the police organization will address the matter through diplomatic channels.

“It is very unfortunate na isa nga pong congresswoman dyan sa US ang nag-introduce po ng amendment diyan sa National Defense Act nila dahil nga po may question ng human rights,” she said.

(“It is very unfortunate that a congresswoman in the US introduced an amendment in their National Defense Act due to questions about human rights.)

"Hopefully, they would reconsider para naman po for the benefit of both countries also,” she added.

On July 14, US lawmakers agreed to include an amendment seeking to stop US assistance to the PNP in the proposed National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023  “until a series of human rights requirements are met.”

In her remarks on the House floor, Pennsylvania Congresswoman Susan Wild, who introduced the amendment, said US taxes should not be used to supply weapons, training, and other forms of assistance to Philippine state security forces over “violent” human rights violations.

“After an estimated 30,000 extrajudicial killings in the Philippines between 2016 and today, after the assassinations, arbitrary arrests, torture, and red-tagging of labor organizers and oppositions leaders, after former President [Rodrigo] Duterte’s calls for assassinating politically engaged bishops, and after the Philippines has been named year after year by the International Trade Union Confederation as one of the world’s 10 most repressive countries for the labor movement and workers, the time is long overdue to begin putting some basic human rights guardrails in place in the United States-Philippines relationship,” the Democrat lawmaker said.

Fajardo said that the PNP as an institution is an advocate and defender of human rights.

She added that the PNP is not aware of the specific cases that the lawmakers considered in passing the amendment.

Fajardo said the police organization has been coordinating with the Department of Justice (DOJ) in its investigation into alleged human rights violations committed in some police operations.

Under the amendment, the US Secretary of State and Defense should certify first that the Philippine government has already “investigated and successfully prosecuted members of the PNP who have violated human rights,” before providing assistance.

Among the assistance the PNP has been receiving  from the US are trainings in investigation, anti-drug enforcement, and anti-child trafficking, Fajardo said.

From 2016 to 2021, the US provided over 600 trainings to over 11,000 Filipino participants.

The US also provided laptops and investigative equipment that are now being used by PNP’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, Special Action Force, and Anti-Cybercrime Group, she said.

Fajardo added, however, that the removal of assistance from the US would only have a small impact on PNP since other foreign countries and the Philippine government are also supporting the operations of the organization.

If the amendment is implemented, it would affect the programs of the PNP in 2023, she also said. — BM, GMA News