CHR Sees Torture Marks on Slain Suspected Drug Pushers in Pasay City

The suspected drug pushers who were allegedly killed by cops in Pasay City were “tortured”, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) revealed in a senate inquiry into extrajudicial killings on Monday.

Speaking to Senator Leila De Lima, Chair of the Committee on Justice and Human Rights, CHR-NCR Director Gilbert Boiser bared that there was indeed human rights violations committed in the said case.

He was referring to slain suspected drug dealer JP Bertes and his father Renato, who was allegedly killed by Pasay City cops last July 6.

The younger Bertes’ live-in partner Harra Kazuo admitted that her husband used to sell shabu in 2015 but was already trying to quit drug-dealing and wanted to surrender when he was killed.

She also recalled how three Pasay police officers raided their house, demanded to surrender the drugs she did not have at that time and stripped their two-year-old daughter naked thinking she hid drug in the child’s underwear.

Kazuo also said that she did not see her partner and his father when they were arrested and later discovered that they had already been killed while in a Pasay police station.

“The circumstances surrounding the killing shows that there really was torture committed by these police officers,” Boiser told De Lima. Noting that the autopsy report showed these findings.

“First the victims were killed inside the police station…We don’t just kill people inside the police station wherein the killers were police themselves,” he added.

Boiser also said before the suspects were killed, they already acquired fractures so it was “very unlikely” that they tried to wrestle for the gun.

“It’s very unlikely that the two (suspects) wrestle for the gun. Common sense dictates that it’s not possible,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino.

The Senate inquiry into extra-judicial killings was presided by De Lima and Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, Chair of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs.

Present during the hearing were law enforcement officials from the PNP, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

Also present were resource persons from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and Commission on Human Rights (CHR).

The second part of the senate inquiry resumes on Tuesday (Aug 23). (PNA) RMA/ANP