PNP Chief Bato de la Rosa has backtracked from defending the secret jails but not from defending the indefensibility of police officials under his supervision.
Akbayan urges the PNP Chief to clean ranks and instill the necessary diiscipline to follow not just the PNP’s manual of operations and terms of engagement, but to educate himself and his officers on the Constitution.
In a statement, Akbayan said “We reiterate our call for the PNP Chief to pursue an impartial but thorough investigation into the secret jail incident and uncover any similar practices of torture and inhumane treatment of suspects.”
It said “The PNP Chief will be better served by a healthy dose of genuine humility by admitting the campaign against drugs has resulted in unacceptable excesses, not only in the deplorable secret jail discovered by the CHR, but also the unnecessary loss of thousands of lives.”
PNP Chief de la Rosa instead of defending his men, should instead focus on demonstrating proof that these killings are being addressed, their perpetrators being brought to justice, and the killings must stop, Akbayan said.
“This secret jail is only the latest symptom to indicate that the campaign against drugs is spiraling out of control, and remedies have to be taken to ensure no more lives are wasted or even degraded because of it.”