De facto Gestapo

Cong Corrales

WHEN a government investigation concluded that members of the national police’s anti-illegal drugs group killed Jee Ick-joo, a South Korean business executive, inside its main headquarters in Camp Crame, I wasn’t surprised at all.

This incident has not only muddled the rule of law in this country, it has also amped the level of impunity the armed services think they could get away with.

Why wouldn’t these rogue cops believe they could get away with it when Digong Dada has vowed immunity for them in the name of his bloody war on drugs? We have a president who scoffs at issues on human rights abuses and rule of law. In Bisaya: Maayong pagkaliwat sa mga pulis kang Digong.

Teresita Ang See of the Movement for Restoriation of Peace and Order said the “tokhang for ransom” has been going on for a while and that the latest victims of the police have been Chinese–not Filipino-Chinese.

She also said victims in all Tokhang for ransom cases paid ransom in exchange for not facing drugelated charges even though all of the victims were reportedly not involved in the illegal drugs trade.

“Ver blatant kasi may blanket authority ang mga pulis,” a news article quoted Ang See as saying.

Granted that not all members of the police force are corrupted, both in integrity and accountability, but it has something to do with Digong Dada cuddling the entire force like it does not have a history of abuse.

Digong Dada’s war on drugs has opened the floodgates for human rights abuses.

The South Korean business executive is certainly not the first foreigner to be victimized by the most effective and organized crime syndicate in the country–the National Police.

Let us recall the organization’s “Top five hits”:

1. In 1998, police officers in Binondo, Manila abducted and blackmailed seven Chinese citizens suspected of drug trafficking on Dec. 30, 1998. After many months of detainment and torture, two Hong Kong residents were killed when the ransom was not paid. One police superintendent who knew of the operation was also killed. It has been dubbed the Manila blackmail incident.
2. The Euro Generals scandal involved Eliseo de la Paz and several National Police officials who went to Russia in October 2008 to attend an Interpol conference. De la Paz was detained for carrying a large sum of undeclared money.

A House panel investigating the scandal concluded that the six police officials who attended the conference had made the trip illegally. In 2010, the Office of the Ombudsman filed graft charges against the 12 former and active ranking national police officials for their alleged involvement in the incident.

3. On Dec. 5, 2008, 10 suspected criminals, one policeman, and five civilians, a total of 16 people, including a seven-year-old girl, were killed in a bloody shootout in Parañaque. Several others were wounded, including a ranking officer of the Highway Patrol Group, two members of the Special Action Force, a village watchman, and a guard, said Director Leopoldo Bataoil, head of the Metro Manila regional police.

The head of the Internal Affairs Service of the PNP said, “We failed in our mission to protect the civilians. Because during the conduct of operation many civilian lives were lost.”

On July 29, 2009, it was reported that the Department of Justice (DOJ) had filed multiple murder charges against 29 policemen, including three generals, in connection with the shootout following the filing of a complaint-affidavit by Lilian de Vera, who lost her husband and daughter, age seven, in the incident.

On Jan. 11, 2010, the Commission on Human Rights recommended the filing of criminal and administrative charges against 26 policemen.

In March, it was reported that after two witnesses had said de Vera and his daughter were not killed in the shootout, that policemen already had complete control of the area where the two were killed, the Department of Justice filed two counts of murder charges against 25 policemen for the killings.

4. The Commission on Human Rights filed charges against 10 police officers after it was discovered that they routinely tortured detainees inside a secret detention facility in Biñan, Laguna.

The facility was maintained by the Provincial Intelligence Branch (PIB) to extract confessions or information from detainees, or to extort money from them in exchange for being charged with lighter offenses or the dropping of the charges altogether. It was also alleged that some “were tortured for the police officers’ amusement” whenever they’re intoxicated.

The facility is notorious for utilizing a roulette called the “Wheel of Torture,” a play on the Wheel of Fortune where various torture methods were printed. The wheel is rotated and wherever the pin stops, the indicated torture method is perpetrated on the detainee.

The torture methods included, a 20-second Manny Pacman punch, named after the famous boxer Manny Pacquiao, where the detainee is beaten for 20 seconds; “Paniki” which means being hung like a bat; “Tusok ulo ka” which means being pierced through the head; “Zombies” which means being electrocuted; and other degrading tasks like “duck walk” and “Ferris wheel.”

5. On Nov. 24, 2009, Senior Supt. Abusana Maguid, the police chief of Maguindanao, was reported to have been relieved of his duties after witnesses reported seeing three of his officers at the scene of the Maguindanao massacre in which 57 people, including journalists, lawyers, aides, and motorists who were witnesses were killed.

On Nov. 25, 2009, Maguid and Chief Insp. Sukarno Dikay were reported to have been relieved from post and placed under restrictive custody. On Nov. 26, 2009, Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno announced that Maguid, Dikay, and others were suspected of involvement in the massacre. Maguid, Dikay, and others were reported to have been recommended for summary dismissal by the PNP high command.

On April 16, 2010, the National Police Commission ordered a 90-day suspension against Maguid, Dikay, and 60 other police personnel for their possible involvement in the killings.

On July 10, 2010, it was reported that Dikay had applied to become state witness, saying that he was confident that his testimony will pin down the masterminds of the killing.

The case is still ongoing.

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez is calling on National Police Director General Ronald dela Rosa to resign. He said Bato should do this to save Digong Dada “from further embarrassment.”

Yesterday morning, a local radio quoted Digong Dada as saying he does not want Bato to resign, and that he still has the full confidence of the President.

I am not surprised with that pronouncement either. There is a reason why Digong Dada has always hinted on declaring martial rule but won’t do it. He has Bato. He doesn’t need to suspend the writ of habeas corpus. He doesn’t need martial law. He doesn’t even need Manny Pacquiao’s ridiculous stand on the death penalty.

He is already doing it. We are in a de facto martial rule.