police brutality philippines essay

Invisible no more: Shedding light on police violence and corruption in the Philippines

The Philippines was romanticized and dubbed the “ Pearl of the Orient Seas ” by national hero and writer José Rizal due to the country’s elegant organic beauty. However, the pearl’s beauty has been tainted by increasing police brutality, accelerated in recent years.

After becoming the 16th President of the Philippines in 2016, Rodrigo Duterte was quick and adamant about carrying out a “ war on drugs ” campaign. Duterte implemented extreme measures targeting criminals and non-compliant citizens from impoverished communities to restore peace and order in the country.

In his first press conference after being elected as president, Duterte pledged to end crime, corruption, and the illegal drug trade within three to six months of being elected. However, Duterte implemented this pledge through the promotion of a new measure: “shoot-to-kill” orders.

“What I will do is urge Congress to restore [the] death penalty by hanging,” Duterte said in his first press conference. “If you resist, show violent resistance, my order to police [will be] to shoot to kill. Shoot to kill for organized crime. You heard that? Shoot to kill for every organized crime.”

Unfortunately, Duterte’s strategies to combat the issues faced by Filipinos have conditioned and emboldened the police, creating a sense of invincibility. The implications of Duterte’s extreme strategies include the manslaughter of innocent citizens and the manifestation of police corruption in the country. However, as a new president leads the country, the future of the Philippines’ criminal justice system seems committed to less violent means.

‘Shoot-To-Kill’

Duterte’s shoot-to-kill orders evolved dangerously, putting more innocent Filipino lives at risk and perpetuating the human rights crisis in the country. The global COVID-19 pandemic was not a barrier to Duterte’s anti-crime operations.

Amidst the pandemic, the government implemented an “ Enhanced Community Quarantine ” (ECQ) for the country’s capital, Manila, as well as the entire island of Luzon in an effort to mitigate the spread of the virus. During the lockdown, Filipinos were confined in their homes, transportation was suspended, food and health services were regulated, and uniformed personnel patrolled the streets to enforce strict quarantine measures.

During the ECQ, the government did not fulfill its promises as residents did not receive relief support. On April 1, 2020, frustration from community members erupted into political demonstrations in the streets of San Roque, Quezon City. Advocates and protestors asked for answers from the government in regard to their promised supplies and food aid.

Duterte’s response? “ Shoot them dead .”

In a televised address on the same day as the protests, Duterte ordered the police and military to shoot troublemakers if they felt their lives were in danger. “My orders are to the police and military, also village officials, that if there is trouble or the situation arises that people fight and your lives are on the line, shoot them dead,” Duterte said.

According to the World Population Review’s most recent annual data, the Philippines is the country with the world’s highest number of police killings, with over 6,000 between 2016 and 2021.

As of February 2022, based on the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency’s (PDEA) Real Numbers PH data , since Duterte took office in 2016, the government implemented 229,868 operations against illegal drugs, which resulted in the arrest of a total of 331,694 suspects. Beyond this, according to the PDEA, the total number of killings during anti-drug operations reached 6,235.

In November 2021, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project published a comprehensive database of the Philippines revealing that since 2016, at least 7,742 civilians have been killed in anti-drug raids, which is approximately 25 percent higher than the figure issued by the government.

As described by Eliza Romero, a coordinator for the Malaya Movement , a US-based alliance that advocates for human rights, freedom, and democracy in the Philippines, Duterte’s fierce rhetoric has given an invitation to vigilante and extrajudicial violence among the community.

“The shoot-to-kill order will just encourage more extrajudicial killings and vigilantism,” Romero said in an interview with Foreign Policy. “It will give private citizens and barangay [village] captains impunity to commit more human rights violations with the protection of the law while normalizing carnage.”

Behind every number is a real person—whose story has been invisible and whose life has been reduced by police officers who one day decided to target an innocent victim; a brother or sister; a son or daughter; a husband or wife; a father or mother.

Karla A., daughter of Renato A. who was killed in December 2016, recounts her experiences after losing her father at the age of 10, stating in an interview with the Human Rights Watch (HRW), “I was there when it happened when my papa was shot. I saw everything, how my papa was shot. … Our happy family is gone. We don’t have anyone to call father now. We want to be with him, but we can’t anymore.”

Emboldening the Police

Duterte’s enforcement measures to achieve public order put innocent citizens in a battle they have already lost. What is worse is that Duterte not only normalized but justified the killing of innocent citizens. Duterte assured the police impunity , stating that he would not only protect them from human rights abuses but ultimately pardon them if ever they are convicted for carrying out his anti-drug campaigns. This leads to the intensification of corruption within police departments in the country.

Duterte’s shoot-to-kill orders have not shown mercy to victims as he has always been in favor of the police. He never failed to show support for the police in carrying out his campaigns in his public and televised addresses. For instance, Duterte gave orders to Bureau of Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero stating that “Drugs are still flowing in. I'd like you to kill there [in communities]… anyway, I'll back you up and you won't get jailed. If it's drugs, you shoot and kill. That’s the arrangement,” Duterte said .

Duterte’s vow to protect the police results in police officers feeling emboldened and invincible. Police officers who have followed Duterte’s orders are promoted through the ranks. Police officers are not held accountable for the deaths of innocent civilians; the country’s own President pardons them. On top of this, police officers are falsifying evidence to justify unlawful killings and avoid legal repercussions.

The HRW published a report titled “‘License to Kill’: Philippine Police Killings in Duterte’s ‘War on Drugs,” which analyzed a total of 24 incidents that led to 32 deaths, involving Philippine National Police (PNP) personnel between October 2016 and January 2017. The report concluded that police officers would falsely claim self-defense to justify these killings.

To further strengthen their claims, police officers would plant guns, spent ammunition, and drug packets next to the bodies of victims. In turn, the victims would seem more guilty of being part of drug-related activities. Other times, police officers would work closely with masked gunmen to carry out these extrajudicial killings. In other words, police officers have succeeded in rooting their endeavors in deceit.

Fortunately, there have been instances where some police officers were legally prosecuted in police killings. Three police officers were found guilty of murdering a 17-year-old teenager in 2017, the first conviction of officers ever since Duterte launched his war on drugs.

A Look Into the Future

The Philippines as the “Pearl of the Orient Seas” has lost its luster due to the many problems that the nation continues to face—one of the most prominent ones is Duterte’s explicit abuse of police power. Similar to how pearls lose their glow when not provided with the care it needs, the integrity of police officers has dried out and become yellowed over time due to the government’s complicity.

Time and time again, Duterte has remained an instigator in instances relating to police brutality in the country. Luckily, the Philippines can combat pearl discoloration through the implementation of robust policies that would ensure increased transparency within police departments.

Freshly elected Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. makes the restoration of the yellowed pearl an achievable goal. At the 121st Police Service anniversary celebration held at Camp General Rafael T. Crame in Quezon City—the national headquarters of the PNP—Marcos Jr. brings an opportunity for redemption. Aside from calling the PNP officers “vanguards of peace,” Marcos Jr. urged them to continue serving the community with integrity in order to restore public confidence.

“The use of force must always be reasonable, justifiable, and only undertaken when necessary. Execution of authority must be fair, it must be impartial,” Marcos Jr. said . “It must be devoid of favoritism and discrimination, regardless of race, gender, social economic status, political affiliation, [and] religious belief. It is only then that you can effectively sustain with great respect and wide support the authority that you possess as uniformed servicemen of the Republic.”

Beyond this, Marcos Jr. highlighted his hope for reforming the police system under the leadership of newly installed PNP Chief Police General Rodolfo Azurin Jr. Moreover, Marcos Jr.’s aspirations to increase accountability within police departments will be complemented by Azurin Jr.’s launching of a peace and security framework titled “MKK=K” or “Malasakit + Kaayusan + Kapayapaan = Kaunlaran” which translates to policies founded on “the combination of care, order and peace shall equate to progress.”

On the other hand, it is understandable if Filipino citizens and human rights activists have lost hope for the possibility of achieving meaningful progress in reforming the broken police system. Marcos Jr. is the son of Ferdinand Marcos Sr. , an ousted dictator who infamously declared martial law in the country, and Filipinos are still navigating the trauma of the Marcos era 50 years later.

Currently, Marcos Jr. pledges to continue the campaign against illegal drugs but with an emphasis on drug prevention and rehabilitation . Under this new framework, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) implemented a program dubbed “Buhay Ingatan, Droga’y Ayawan (Value Life, Shun Drugs)” which aims to address the root of the problem by suppressing the demand for illegal drugs. According to DILG Secretary Benjamin ‘Benhur’ Abalos Jr., the initiative needs support and solidarity from all sectors of the community in order to ensure its effectiveness.

Simultaneously, Marcos Jr. has no intention to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) on their investigation of the country’s drug war killings. Based on the ICC ’s official website, their purpose “is intended to complement, not to replace, national criminal systems; it prosecutes cases only when States do not are unwilling or unable to do so genuinely.” However, Marcos Jr. stated in an interview that “The ICC, very simply, is supposed to take action when a country no longer has a functioning judiciary… That condition does not exist in the Philippines. So I do not see what role the ICC will play in the Philippines.”

Nearly five months into Marcos Jr.’s administration, the University of the Philippines’ Dahas Project revealed that 152 people have died in anti-drug police raids as of Nov. 30. The report further disclosed that the drug casualties under Marcos Jr. “[are] exceeding the 149 killings recorded during the final six months of the Duterte government. During the first half of the year under Duterte, the average daily rate was 0.8. So far under Marcos, the rate stands at one per day.”

In the Philippines, police officers have repeatedly assumed the roles of prosecutor, judge, jury, and executioner. HRW Deputy Director for Asia Phil Robertson points out shortcomings in Marcos Jr.’s campaigns describing that “Using a drug rehabilitation approach means little when police and mystery gunmen are still executing suspected drug users and dealers. Law enforcers should receive clear orders to stop the ‘drug war’ enforcement once and for all.” The only way to effectively mitigate police killings in the Philippines is by abandoning violent and punitive measures against illegal drugs.

Ultimately, despite these obstacles, the yellowed pearl can still brighten. Under new leadership for both the national government and police department, the Philippines may embark on a journey of reconstruction and rehabilitation. In this process, the hope is to finally shed light on the issue of police violence in the country, implement fruitful solutions to combat the problem and advocate for innocent victims who might have felt invisible in their battle against police brutality. Once the light has been restored, the Philippines can finally live up to its billing as the beautiful and pure “Pearl of the Orient Seas”.

Laurinne Jamie Eugenio

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Philippines

Police, victims, and a call for change

• UN RC Philippines

By Gustavo Gonzalez*

The 20 December killing of two unarmed civilians, Sonya and Frank Gregorio, has rightly met with widespread condemnation and ignited the debate about the need for police reform in the Philippines.

There are different views emerging in this public debate. Some see the killings as an isolated incident by a “bad cop” who needs to be prosecuted and removed from the police force. Others point to lawlessness and lack of respect for the police, contributing to an “us versus them” mentality. Yet others emphasize a policing culture of addressing crime by resorting to violence and abuse of power.

There may be elements of truth in all these views. Allegations are emerging about a string of infractions by the officer involved in the 20 December killings, that were not adequately addressed. There are also strong indications that the Philippine National Police (PNP) has increasingly relied on the use of force in recent years, resulting in thousands of killings according to the PNP’s own statistics. Every life and family impacted is precious. But this high number of killings is, in itself, a broader, institutional concern.

The police officer involved in the 20 December incident was caught on camera, and promptly detained and charged. However, in the majority of cases where there are allegations of human rights violations, there are no cameras. Perpetrators are not always brought to justice, and victims are left behind, with a sense of fear and powerlessness. This feeds the conspiracy of silence, where police officers do not report when the rules are broken, and this, in turn, creates an environment in which abuse of power can escalate. Consistency and fairness in addressing infractions and violations, rather than the imposition of the death penalty, is likely to strengthen the rule of law.

In recent weeks, a number of killings, by unknown assailants, of individuals playing a role in protecting their communities have been reported. The killing of two human rights activists in August, of a journalist in November; the killing of two lawyers in Cebu in November and December, respectively, and of a doctor and her husband on 16 December are among the most recent such cases. This impacts negatively on security and development.

Human rights treaties which the Philippines has ratified provide clear guidance for addressing these challenges. And cooperation between the Philippines and the UN in areas such as strengthening domestic accountability mechanisms and data gathering can help contribute to a policing culture that seeks to protect its citizens, particularly the most vulnerable, while also recognizing the important and challenging work police officers face in carrying out their duties.

The Human Rights Council resolution adopted by consensus on 7 October of this year, with the support of the Government of the Philippines and a large number of member states, has provided a basis for such cooperation.

Since the adoption of the Human Rights Council Resolution, the UN has actively engaged with civil society organizations, the National Human Rights Commission of the Philippines and a range of different Government actors to set the basis of an ambitious programme. However, we should agree that the success of technical cooperation greatly relies on the existence of an enabling environment, with strong commitment to change.

The killing of Sonya and Frank Gregorio impacts on all of us. Preventing such killings and ensuring accountability must be our foremost priority.

*Gustavo Gonzalez is the United Nations Resident Coordinator in the Philippines

https://philippines.un.org

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POLICE VIOLENCE

From the streets of Minneapolis to the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, unlawful use of force by police can end in death, injury, and devastation.

As we’ve seen too many times, in the USA and elsewhere, sometimes police kill or seriously injure people during arrests fuelled by racism.

In countless other cases, police are quick to use force in response to protests or demonstrations. Throughout 2019 and 2020, Hong Kong police have repeatedly  deployed weapons  like tear gas and rubber bullets in an unlawful way against protesters.

All too often, officers who kill or injure people after using force unlawfully are not brought to justice.  

That’s why it’s so important to know what your rights are, and to know what police are, and aren’t, allowed to do.

We need to make sure that police stop using force against the law, and that those who kill unlawfully are brought to account – no more excuses.

What is “police brutality”?

The term “police brutality” is sometimes used to refer to various human rights violations by police. This might include beatings, racial abuse, unlawful killings, torture, or indiscriminate use of riot control agents at protests.

Why is police brutality a human rights issue?

At its worst, unlawful use of force by police can result in people being deprived of their right to life. If police force is unnecessary or excessive, it may also amount to torture or other ill-treatment.

Unlawful force by police can also violate the right to be free from discrimination, the right to liberty and security, and the right to equal protection under the law.

Are police allowed to kill people?

There are strict international laws and standards governing how and when police can use force – particularly lethal force.

The UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials  (BPUFF)  is the key international instrument that deals with police use of force.

The most important thing to remember is this: it is the utmost obligation of state authorities, including police, to respect and protect the right to life.

Under international law, police officers should only ever use lethal force as a last resort. This means when such force is strictly necessary to protect themselves or others from the imminent threat of death or serious injury, and only when other options for de-escalation are insufficient.

Many killings by the police that we have seen around the world clearly do not meet this criteria.

In the USA, George Floyd, Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner and too many other Black people who have been killed by police were unarmed.

During protests in Iran in November 2019, police shot and killed hundreds of protesters who posed no risk, including  at least 23 children.

And in the  Philippines,  witnesses have described seeing police shoot poor people who were suspected of using or selling drugs as they were on the ground begging for mercy. 

What about national laws?

All governments have a duty to incorporate international human rights law into their domestic legislation, but many have failed to do this adequately.

For example, Mexico ’s new  National Law on the Use of Force  does not limit use of lethal force to situations where it is necessary to protect the lives of others. It does not require that officers use the minimum level of force to resolve a situation.

In the USA, nine states  have no laws  at all on the use of lethal force by law enforcement officers.

Often countries shut down the doors of justice domestically and victims have to rely on international tribunals to seek truth, justice and reparations.

In 2011, Amnesty raised concerns about the lack accountability in France for the deaths in custody of Ali Ziri, Mohammed Boukrourou, Lamine Dieng, Abou Bakari Tandia and Abdelhakim Ajimi, all men from ethnic minority backgrounds. After struggling to get justice in France, three of these cases were referred to the European Court of Human Rights, which has so far found that French police  violated Ali Ziri’s right to life,  and that their treatment of Mohammed Boukrourou constituted inhuman and degrading treatment.

What causes police brutality?

In countries with high rates of killings by police, there is often a combination of factors including inadequate laws, racial or other forms of discrimination, insecurity or conflict, and entrenched impunity.

Governments who routinely trample on other human rights like freedom of expression and peaceful assembly often authorize heavy-handed police responses to protests and demonstrations. We’ve seen this recently in Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Hong Kong and Nicaragua.

Impunity for killings by police often leads to a deadly cycle of violence. In Brazil for example,  officers routinely kill people  who pose no threat – mostly young Black men – safe in the knowledge that these killings are rarely investigated or prosecuted.

How many people have died at the hands of the police?

It’s hard to get reliable figures on killings by police because many governments do not collect or publish this data.

The Small Arms Survey says  that in each year between 2007 and 2012, an estimated 19,000 people were killed during ‘legal interventions’ (encounters with police).

Most of the available data refers to specific countries or time periods, and are often estimates by NGOs or human rights groups.

Here are some examples:

• In 2019 police in  Rio de Janeiro,  Brazil, killed 1,810 people – an average of five per day
• In 2019,  Kenyan  police killed 122 people
• Between October 2019 and January 2020, police in  Iraq  killed around 600 protesters
• Between 2015 and 2018, over 500 people were fatally shot by the police in  Jamaica , and over 300 shot and injured
• Around 1000 people are killed by police  in the USA  every year.

Police and Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment: Jerryme Corre

Public transport driver Jerryme Corre suffered shocking torture at the hands of Philippine National Police, after they accused him of killing a police officer.

He told Amnesty that, after his arrest, the officers “kicked and punched me on the sides, neck, stomach and knees”. Then they blindfolded him, handcuffed his ankles, and beat him throughout the night, hitting the soles of his feet with a wooden baton.

If Jerryme couldn’t answer their questions, they punched him. They put a cloth over his mouth and poured water down his throat “until I felt like I was drowning”. Later, when he still refused to confess, they took exposed electric wires and electrocuted him on his back, side and thighs. Then they threatened to kill him.

As they tried to force a confession, the officers repeatedly called him ‘Boyet’. He told them this wasn’t his name, and a local village official also told them they had the wrong man. They refused to listen, and eventually charged Jerryme with possessing drugs. 

 In March 2018, Jerryme Corre has finally been released.

Accountability

Nobody is above the law – especially those who have a duty to uphold it.

All cases of police use of lethal force should be subject to a thorough, independent, impartial and transparent investigation and if the evidence indicates that the killing was unlawful, the police officer responsible should be criminally prosecuted.

But Amnesty has documented how police officers who unlawfully kill or injure people often get away with it.

There are lots of reasons why this happens. In some cases, police and security forces threaten the judiciary, witnesses or survivors, pressuring them to drop charges. Other times, there are laws enacted to provide the police with immunity or otherwise obstruct justice, even if they act against the law – in  Brazil  for example.

In the Philippines, President Duterte ordered police forces to kill anyone they believe to be connected to the drugs trade when he assumed office in June 2016 and pledged to protect security forces from prosecution. When the President sanctions murder and promises immunity, accountability is almost impossible.

Policing protests

Governments have an obligation  to ensure that everyone can enjoy the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, including through protests.

There are clear international guidelines for police conduct during protests:

• It is the role of police to facilitate peaceful protests. If tensions arise, they have a duty to de-escalate them.
• If some protestors engage in violent actions, this does not turn the otherwise peaceful protest into a non-peaceful assembly. Police should ensure those who remain peaceful can continue protesting.
• Acts of violence by a small minority do not justify indiscriminate use of force.
• If use of force is unavoidable to secure the safety of others, police must use the minimum force necessary
• The decision to disperse a protest must be a last resort – when all other less restrictive means have proven to be unsuccessful.
• Tear gas or water cannons to disperse a protest should only be used if people can leave the scene. They may only be used in response to widespread violence and where more targeted means have failed to contain the violence.
• Firearms should NEVER be used to disperse a crowd.

Every country has its own domestic laws and there is no one-size-fits-all prescription for making them fairer and safer.

Amnesty International’s detailed  guidelines  on the use of force by law enforcement set out clearly how police and other security forces around the world can improve their laws, policies and practices.

Some of the key recommendations are:

• The power of the police to resort to the use of force and firearms must be adequately regulated by law
• The “protect-life” principle must be enshrined in law – lethal force may only be used for protecting against an imminent threat of death or serious injury
• Where use of force by the police has resulted in injury or death, there must be a prompt, thorough, independent, and impartial investigation. Those responsible must be brought to justice in fair trials
• During protests, police should be guided by their duty to facilitate peaceful assemblies, and their starting point should not be the use of force
• People in detention have the same rights as everybody else when it comes to lethal force

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This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

COPS. File photo of policemen during a ceremony.

Darren Langit/Rappler

Because brutality in the Philippine National Police (PNP) is a systemic problem, multi-sectoral groups said the PNP should institute policy reforms, and not just mental tests, to solve this.

Renato Reyes, secretary general of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), was among those who gave this assessment.

“The problem is not just psych evaluation but the general climate of impunity that exists within the institution. This is a systemic problem,” Reyes said in a message to Rappler. 

“Let’s look at the problem from a policy standpoint and maybe we can put a stop to the killings and the impunity,” he added. 

On Thursday, June 3, police chief General Guillermo Eleazar said the PNP was considering conducting regular neuropsychological tests among its personnel. 

NEWS UPDATE: The PNP says it now considers conducting regular neuropsychological tests for its personnel. This comes after the killing of Lilybeth Valdez, who was shot and killed by Police Master Sergeant Hensie Zinampan on May 31. | via @jairojourno pic.twitter.com/kj7qP5kYpd — Rappler (@rapplerdotcom) June 3, 2021

“The PNP will study this recommendation of subjecting our personnel to regular psychiatric assessments or tests. Personally, I acknowledge that there is really a need to prioritize this given the nature of our duty,” Eleazar said in a statement. 

According to the PNP, the recommendation came after recent the brutal killing of Lilibeth Valdez .

Valdez was shot dead by Police Master Sergeant Hensie Zinampan outside a store in Fairview, Quezon City on May 31. The suspect is now facing a murder complaint and administrative case. 

The call for regular mental assessment of the police was first amplified after Police Senior Master Sergeant Jonel Nuezca shot and killed unarmed 52-year-old Sonya Gregorio and her son 25-year-old Frank Gregorio in Tarlac last December 2020.

Start from the roots

Although the initiative by the PNP to address police brutality is “refreshing,” National Union of the Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) President Edre Olalia said the police should address the problem of police brutality before cops are deployed.

“Yet, should it not have started during the screening, recruitment, and training before deploying them on the beat instead of waiting for such abominable excesses to happen time and time again?” Olalia told Rappler in a message.

Cop who killed 52-year-old woman in QC faces murder complaint, admin case

Olalia added police should now look beyond a mental assessment, especially as people might be distrustful of the police.

“When citizens are now always scared and distrustful rather than feel safe and protected when they see cops who not only think they are above the law but are the law, then it is high time to look beyond neuro-psychiatric assessment and tests and decisively have a political assessment and institutional reorientation as well,” the NUPL president added.

Tinay Palabay, secretary general of human rights group Karapatan, agreed with Olalia and Reyes’ position, adding mental health services should be provided to police but as an addition rather than the primary means of stemming police brutality.

“Neuro-psychological examinations and mental health services should be among the regular health services to police personnel. However, understanding and solving the reasons behind the prevalent violent acts of the police should not be confined to this measure,” Palabay told Rappler.

Mental and physical assessments are requirements for police applicants. But for the police who are already on duty, the PNP chief himself admitted they would have trouble conducting regular tests because of the limitations in healthcare services. – Rappler.com

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The shared culture of police brutality between the PH and US has a deeper history than you think

If you’ve been keeping up to date with the demonstrations in America following the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, you’ve probably picked up a familiar refrain: “defund the police.” Or “abolish the police.” Or “ACAB.” 

Rallying against police brutality is something we’ve seen before—Lord knows Filipinos have cried power against it too. It’s a problem that this country and the West share, and are finding solidarity in. But some people reading this might balk at the idea of getting rid of the cops entirely. Should we end the police?

Where does one even begin? Consider looking to  The End of Policing  by sociology professor Alex S. Vitale. Published by Verso Books,  The End of Policing  aims to debunk the notion that the police protect and serve the public, exposes the inherently violent nature of the police, proposes reform solutions, and broadens our horizons on what it means to uphold justice. The ebook was distributed absolutely free for a time but is currently selling at 70 percent off, £5.10, or just a bit over 300 Philippine pesos. The hardcover is sold out.

The police brutality parallels between the Philippines and U.S. are already stark, but roots apparently run deeper than just drug wars and extrajudicial killings. According to Vitale, when it comes to the evolution of the police, Philippine and American history overlap. “Jesse Garwood, a major figure in the US occupation forces in the Philippines, brought the methods of militarized espionage and political suppression to bear on Pennsylvania miners and factory workers.” 

Some context: according to the book, in the late nineteenth century, Pennsylvania was home to many unions and workers movements. The suppression of such movements—which involved strikebreakers and outright killing miners—borrowed techniques that the Philippine Constabulary used to maintain US occupation, in response to anticolonial rebellion.

Vitale continues: “These practices then fed back into domestic American policing. The most important police leader of the twentieth century, August Vollmer, after serving in the Philippines, became chief of police in Berkeley California, and wrote the most influential textbook of modern policing. Vollmer went on to pioneer the use of radio patrol cars, fingerprinting, and other techniques now considered standard practice.” 

Already, we see untangleable ties between police violence and colonial violence. The same mechanisms of control and subordination that threatened our independence and sovereignty, are the same mechanisms that threaten the lives of the marginalized both here and abroad, whether we’re talking about Black Lives Matter protesters or  the San Roque 21.

Vitale unpacks the violent practices of the police in a multifaceted way, looking at the issue through the lens of poverty and homelessness, sex work, and the war on drugs, to name a few lenses. With poor and homeless people, the police tend to look at them as sources of disorder, criminal elements that should be aggressively apprehended. But that doesn’t address the root problems of poverty. The poor and mentally ill can’t afford mental health services, but modern policing doesn’t give them access to such services, sometimes even dispatching them with lethal means, as shown by the murder of  Winston Ragos.  As for homeless people on public property, “Police routinely break up encampments”—squatters—” driving people into more remote and isolated conditions that leave them more vulnerable to robberies, assaults, and the elements.” Mental illness and poverty are effectively criminalized.

As one can imagine, women and LGBTQ+ people are hit especially hard by the policing of sex work. Some might say that the goal of criminalizing sex work is to reduce the transmission of sexually transmitted disease, and managing violence between prostitutes, customers, and pimps. When really it’s more about keeping property values high. 

And because prostitutes fear prosecution and hate crimes and the hands of police, they don’t go to the police when they need help. “Arrests are made, loiterers dispersed, and radio jobs handled,” the book says. “Does any of this make communities safer or improve the lives of sex workers? Overwhelmingly, the answer is no.” Gay and transgender folk are often also wrongfully assumed to engage in sex work. This is the kind of homophobia that perhaps informs  the arrest of the Pride 20.

As for the drug war—whether we’re talking about the American one or the Philippine one—this one passage by Vitale sums things up very precisely. “Many people involved in the drug industry don’t really have a drug problem; they have a job problem. Many others have drug problems that directly stem from the economic conditions they struggle with. There is no way to reduce the widespread use of drugs without dealing with profound economic inequality and a growing sense of hopelessness.”

Of course police problems between here and the US are different in nuanced ways. The US has to reckon with its police problem with the dimension of race, for one thing, and Richard Nixon’s legacy gives their country’s drug war a specifically racist character. Here, we’ve got the Anti-Terror Bill, police holding mañanita, and a whole host of issues that are too much to rattle off even before we consider how the COVID-19 pandemic complicates these problems.

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Still, even though Vitale addresses the problems of the police in a specifically American context, many of the solutions he proposes can apply here, and it takes more than just a budget for body cams and arresting a few bad cops. (Side note: “Are Prisons Obsolete?” by Angela Davis is a perfect companion read to this book, and does with jails what Vitale does with police.) Police reform and abolition are complicated, but we can start with systemically addressing the problems faced by the people that police tend to criminalize. We can protect sex workers, combat poverty, destigmatize drug use. The government can introduce new training methods that do away with the warrior mentality so prevalent among our law enforcers, who often shoot first and ask questions later. 

But even with all that said, Vitale invites us to consider that such reforms might not be enough, because the police system is inherently messed up to begin with. Perhaps we should look to our communities—i.e. people who  aren’t  cops—to make our society more livable, to cultivate a culture where we can all depend on each other, without fear of a carelessly fired bullet.

You can purchase ‘The End of Policing’ as an ebook from  Verso Books

Photo by Basilio H. Sepe, ABS-CBN News (left), REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz (right).

Woman’s Killing Thrusts Philippine Police Brutality into Spotlight Anew

The case of a police officer suspected of shooting a woman dead at close range has put a spotlight back on extrajudicial deaths in the Philippines, where rights groups have criticized the government for thousands of killings by cops in the nation’s crackdown on illegal drugs.

The Monday night slaying, which was caught on a mobile-phone camera, showed Master Sgt. Hensie Zinampan, dressed in plain clothes, allegedly drawing a gun as he approached the victim, Lilybeth Valdez, 52, before shooting her in the back of the head, authorities said.

“This is a heinous unacceptable crime because the police are supposed to protect our countrymen and not act as criminals,” National Police chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar told reporters as he ordered officers to speed up the investigation into Zinampan, 42, who was assigned to the Police Security Protection Group. 

Eleazar said that based on a video that went viral on social media, Zinampan allegedly was holding his gun before he approached the victim.

“He then grabbed the victim and shot her at close range like a chicken,” Eleazar said.  

Valdez was buying cigarettes at a store in a dark alley in Quezon City, north of Manila. A heated exchange ensued before Zinampan allegedly grabbed Valdez and shot her.

A visibly angry Eleazar confronted Zinampan who was detained at a police camp Tuesday morning.  

“I have asked that the administrative case against this cop be quickly filed so he can be taken out of the PNP,” Eleazar said, referring to the Philippine National Police. “This is separate from a criminal case against him so the victim will receive justice.” 

Duterte: ‘My police and my army are trained to kill’

On the same day Valdez was gunned down, President Rodrigo Duterte told a national television audience that police records to do with raids carried out as part of his administration’s war on illegal drugs contained information about suspects that should stay confidential. 

Some of this information could affect “national security,” he said.

“We have records of those who died, who have derogatory records in our files and there are references to people and we cannot divulge it to anybody except to the military and police,” Duterte said. 

The president did say that rights groups could question the manner of specific raids, including how gunfights started, “but if you ask what prompted the police or military to go into this operation based on their reports and collated dossier, you can’t have access to that. 

“But you will say, you will wonder why many of them are killed. It’s really because my police and my army are trained to kill,” Duterte said. “What else is the purpose of them being soldiers and police officers, among other duties?”

Police have said at least 6,600 suspected drug dealers and addicts have been killed in the five-year-old drug war while activists have said the count could be much higher.

In 2019, the United Nations human rights commissioner reported that more than 8,600 people had been killed in the Philippine drug war.

Killing captured on video

Initial investigations revealed that Zinampan, the police officer, allegedly fought with the victim’s son on May 1. After the shooting, Zinampan allegedly threatened the victim’s family, Eleazar said. 

The independent Commission on Human Rights (CHR) condemned the shooting and reminded Eleazar about his commitment to improve policing.

“After a string of recent deaths and killings being attributed to police officers, we urge the PNP [Philippine National Police] to translate commitments of internal cleansing into actual reduction of cases of human rights violations on the ground,” CHR spokeswoman Jacqueline de Guia said in a statement Tuesday. 

“This incident is gravely concerning as we expect our police to ‘serve and protect,’ and not be at the frontlines of violating rights, let alone arbitrarily curtailing one’s right to life,” de Guia said. 

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the police officer was a “bad egg” in an organization that has been working to clean its image. 

“But please, we have hundreds of thousands in our ranks of policemen and we hear one or two cases of this nature,” Roque said. 

The killing came about a week after four police in suburban Valenzuela City north of Manila were relieved of duty after being accused of killing an 18-year-old autistic man during a May 23 raid at a cockfighting event. 

Previously, three police were convicted of murdering Kian Lloyd delos Santos, a 17-year-old student who was killed during a drug raid in 2017.

The officers claimed delos Santos drew a gun at them and died in a shootout, but a closed-circuit television camera caught them leading the victim away. His corpse was discovered near a pigsty.

In December 2020, an off-duty police officer was filmed allegedly shooting and killing a woman and her son after an argument. The officer turned himself in and remains in custody.

Duterte, who was elected in 2016 for his tough-on-crime rhetoric, had vowed to clean the country of drugs and criminality. He has repeatedly exhorted police to kill rather than be killed themselves in carrying out the campaign.

Rights groups have said this policy led to wrongful deaths and two cases have been filed against Duterte at the International Criminal Court.

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Philippines: End Police Abuses

New Police Chief Should Reject ‘Drug War,’ Ensure Independent Investigations

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(Manila) – The new head of the Philippine National Police (PNP) should urgently address police involvement in “ drug war ” killings and other abuses, Human Rights Watch said in a June 11, 2018 letter to Director General Oscar Albayalde. The police chief, who assumed command of the PNP in April, should permit independent investigations into these abuses and ensure that all police officers responsible for extrajudicial executions and other crimes are held accountable.

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Human Rights Watch called on Albayalde to launch credible investigations into killings linked to President Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs,” during which more than 12,000 people have been killed. The government has confirmed a total of 4,279 deaths during police operations from July 1, 2016, to May 21, 2018. Human Rights Watch also urged Albayalde to address the increasing scourge of “riding-in-tandem killings” – killings committed by motorcycle-riding gunmen who have often been linked to local officials and police.

“Director General Albayalde’s fundamental challenge is to transform the Philippine National Police from deadly predators to genuine protectors of public safety and rule of law,” said Phelim Kine , deputy Asia director. “Albayalde should demonstrate that he’s serious about ‘respect for human rights’ by stopping summary killings by police and bringing those responsible to justice.”

Human Rights Watch also urged Albayalde to take all necessary action to prevent human rights abuses by police personnel; to ensure prompt, transparent, and impartial investigations of alleged rights abuses in which police are implicated; and to take appropriate action to ensure that officers who commit abuses are appropriately held to account. Research by Human Rights Watch found that many drug-war killings were summary executions in which police or their agents planted weapons and drugs on bodies and then claimed the victims had “fought back.” No one has been held to account for these deaths.

The Philippines needs a professional, rights-respecting police force now more than ever.

Human Rights Watch also highlighted the deadly toll of “riding-in-tandem” attacks by motorcycle-riding gunmen. Police data indicates that 880 people have been shot dead in such attacks between October 2017 and May 2018, but that police have arrested only 63 suspects. Albayalde should undertake a thorough and transparent investigation of possible police complicity in these “ death squads ” and publicly disavow the use of death squads as a legitimate “crime-control” strategy.

“Albayalde has a clear choice: ignore murderous abuses by the Philippine National Police or take decisive action to challenge its culture of impunity and begin restoring public trust in law enforcement,” Kine said. “The Philippines needs a professional, rights-respecting police force now more than ever.”

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Alan C. Robles

On 23 November 2009, 58 people were kidnapped and slaughtered in Maguindanao province, southern Philippines. Women in the group were raped, shot and mutilated. The bodies were buried by use of an earthmoving construction tractor. At least 34 of the victims were journalists. This was the worst media atrocity in the country’s history.

Not only did police fail to stop the well-organised massacre – they took part. Policemen, accompanied by hundreds of armed civilian “volunteers”, blocked the convoy the victims were in and directed it to the killing ground. Of the 196 people now being tried for the crime, 61 are from the Philippines National Police (PNP).

The Ampatuan Massacre, named after the warlord clan accused of perpetrating it, bloodily drove home the central problem of the PNP. It is institutionally weak and subservient to local politicians. A 2005 study of the 137,000-member PNP done by the UNDP points out that “the authority being exercised by local government units over the internal operations and decision-making of the PNP creates an environment extremely vulnerable to undue politicisation of the police force.” Rather than enforce the law, policemen end up enforcing the will of a local leader.

On the wrong side of the law

According to Jesse Robredo, secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) “the problem, in varying degrees, has existed for a long time”. It’s a huge problem but far from being the only one. Beset with poor training, scant equipment and corruption, law enforcers have a dismal record. Far too often, they are on the wrong side of the law.

In late 2009, a video surfaced of a Manila police officer torturing a prisoner to death. A few months after, another policeman was charged with raping a female prisoner. Higher up the command chain, last year, the government filed corruption charges against a group of former and active PNP officers involved in a 2008 trip to Moscow where one of the officers was caught carrying € 105,000 in undeclared cash.

Even when the cops spring into action to do their jobs, they can be catastrophically inept. Last August, in Manila, a gunman – a sacked police officer – held a bus full of tourists from Hong Kong hostage. The PNP’s rescue attempt went disastrously wrong. A bumbling, slow-motion assault led to a shootout that killed eight of 25 hostages, as well as the kidnapper.

Organised crime, however, is hardly impressed by law enforcers in the Philippines. At the start of this year, the PNP proclaimed it would crack down on “car-nappers” – armed violent gangs who snatch vehicles by stopping them and forcing the owners out. Rather than duck their heads and go into hiding, the gangs responded by continuing to hijack cars the week after the announcement.

After a bomb explosion killed five aboard a passenger bus in Manila in late January, the Australian embassy issued a travel warning about “the high threat of terrorist attack and the high level of serious crime”. This was certainly not an endorsement of police capacities.

Statistics show that PNP capabilities are indeed limited. According to the UNDP study, over 20,000 PNP members did not have firearms in 2004. Those who did were issued only 28 rounds of ammunition for one year, with another 10 for marksmanship training. While it needed 25,000 handheld radios, the PNP only had 2,280. This January, a paper surfaced showing that in nine of the country’s 15 regions, nearly 80 % of police investigators have had no formal training.

In 2009, the research firm Pulse Asia conducted a poll. The results showed that respondents considered the PNP the country’s second most corrupt government agency, after the Department of Public Works and Highways. A 2006 survey by the Social Weather Stations, a research institute, showed that public confidence in the police was “very bad”. In 2007, the rating was “bad”, and in 2008 “poor”. Trying to put the best spin on the matter, the PNP spokesman in 2008 claimed the ratings at least were “improving” and the police was “slowly regaining the trust of the community”.

The question is: was there ever any trust to begin with? Philippine law enforcement’s traditions are rooted not so much in crime-fighting as in politics, repression and suppression of dissent – with no particular regard for due process or human rights. Centuries of colonial rule followed by decades of authoritarianism under a dictator have left their mark. Democratisation in the late 1980s only changed one thing: The police no longer served national leaders, but became subordinate to local politicians (see box).

In a 1987 essay, political scientist Benedict Anderson famously described the Philippines as a “cacique democracy”, a political system based on competing oligarchs drawn from a few rich and powerful families. The clans legitimise their hold on power by dominating provincial and local elective offices. To win them they use methods summed up by another famous phrase: “Guns, goons and gold.” Local police and private armies – goons – play a key role in these elections, which can be bloody and murderous. The Ampatuan Massacre was actually one clan’s way of preventing another from registering its candidate. The scale of atro­city and brutality were staggering, but the barbarity was not new. In 2007, in a town near Manila, a police inspector and accomplices set fire to a school being used as a voting precinct, killing three people trapped inside.

Between elections, mafia-controlled police protect or even run unsavoury activities such as drug dealing, kidnapping, car-napping and illegal gambling. This is possible because, as political analyst Miriam Coronel Ferrer writes, the Philippines is a “weak state”. She explains: “A state is weak when its capacity to exercise ‘social control’ is not only low but also fragmented. There is no rule of law. The national government cannot convincingly enforce order and exercise governance, especially in peripheral areas.”

As Ferrer explains, the Ampatuans enriched themselves, built a private army, suborned the police and terrorised Maguindanao. This was made possible through the assistance of then President Gloria Arroyo, who needed the clan’s support in Congress, plus the votes it could deliver in elections. “Local bosses are able to entrench themselves to become political dynasties by ‘holding the fort’ for the centre. In turn, they are able to get a slice of the national state’s resources and powerful protection.” Under the Arroyo administration, “local governments were heavily encouraged to procure arms and organise militias to fight those opposed to the government.”

A new administration

The new administration under President Noynoy Aquino, who was elected last year, promises change. Interior Secretary Robredo says: “We will not allow the police to be used for partisan and political purposes.” He argues that reform is possible: “You need two things: an administration truly interested in reform, and a national government that doesn’t tolerate this kind of thing.”

Robredo notes that the National Police Commission (Napolcom) appoints local officers to supervise the police forces, and that it can withdraw such mandates: “If they abuse their authority over their police force, we’ll remove operational supervision and control of the police from their hands.” He said the department has already done this in two or three instances. “One was a mayor reported to be protecting illegal loggers.” Secretary Robredo insists, however, that it makes sense to put the police under the control of local governments. “The national government doesn’t have all the resources; a good local official, whose intentions are similar to those of the PNP, is really a good partner in maintaining peace and order.” He asserts that “by and large most of our local officials help the police and provide them logistical support”.

This year, the Aquino administration has bud­geted two billion pesos (equivalent of € 33.2 million) for acquiring new equipment for the police. It is continuing implementation of the “Integrated PNP Transformation Programme”, which is based on the findings of the UNDP. The Department of Interior and Local Government has also undertaken a cleanup of the PNP. As of January, Robredo said, 175 policemen had been dismissed – more than half of them for involvement with illegal drugs.

Whether any of these efforts will change the performance of the police, or increase its standing in the eyes of the public remains an open question. The challenges are daunting – and political at heart. Political analyst Ferrer says: “We have to strengthen and insulate the state institutions from the machinations of the national leadership, transform the orientation of local governments and wean them away from presi­dential patronage; and put a stop to political violence through the rule of law.“

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