Lawmaker warns cops against taking photos of victims’ kin amid drug war deaths probe

House committee on human rights panel chairperson Bienvenido "Benny" Abante on Wednesday warned police officers against taking photos of drug war victims and their kin at the resumption of the House inquiry into the drug war deaths during the Duterte administration.

Abante made the call ahead of the start of the fourth day of the House inquiry, with officials from the Philippine National Police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) as well as the kin of those who died in the drug war and their counsels scheduled to testify.

“Let me say this before anything else, merong mga biktima diyan sa labas [there are some victims outside], and I was told that there are some police officials taking pictures of them. If they don’t want to be held in contempt, I don’t want anyone taking pictures of anybody if you are not a member of the media,” Abante said.

“I’d like to provide a holding room for the victims alone, and I am prohibiting any police officer from taking pictures of these victims. Respect this committee!” he added.

The holding room was promptly provided, and Abante reiterated his warning to the police officers.

“I will not hesitate to use the powers of this Committee to hold in contempt or even arrest those taking pictures here. No one can take pictures inside or outside if you are not part of the media,” he said.

GMA News Online has reached out to the Philippine National Police for comment.

Abante’s committee is probing the deaths of over 6,000 people who died during the police’s anti-drug operations under the Duterte administration, but human rights lawyer Chel Diokno said in the same hearing that the number of drug war deaths reached 20,000 based on the Duterte accomplishment report dated 2017 and later cited in a Resolution issued by the Supreme Court in 2018.

Diokno is part of the Free Legal Assistance Group, which questioned the legality of the drug war before the Supreme Court.

House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro, for her part, said during Wednesday’s probe that the police clearly did not follow their rules of engagement of preserving life during police operations given the huge number of deaths.

“Kung talagang you are after preserving of life, hindi dapat ganyan karami ang patay,” Castro said.
(If you are really after preserving life, there should not be that many deaths to begin with.)

Earlier, Antipolo lawmaker and former police officer Romeo Acop said a lot of people kept their mouths shut when drug war deaths were happening either out of fear or because certain sectors of society approved of such killings.— BM, GMA Integrated News