The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Thursday exposed the latest abuses linked to President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs – an unlawful secret detention facility in a Manila police station.
CHR representatives led media to an unofficial jail hidden behind a bookshelf in a police station in Manila’s Tondo district. The facility housed a dozen men and women in atrocious, grossly overcrowded conditions. The detainees told CHR and journalists that police – who claimed the detainees were drug suspects – had abducted them and held them in the facility for a week without notifying families or lawyers. Detainees alleged they were tortured by police who demanded bribes of between P50 thousand and P100 thousand to secure their freedom. Detainees said inadequate lighting, ventilation, and toilet facilities forced them “to urinate and [do] bowel movements in plastic bags,” according to CHR-NCR Director Atty Gilbert Boisner. Police deny the allegations, insisting they are still processing detainees’ arrest notifications and refused requests to free the detainees. (hrw)
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