KARAPATAN renewed its calls to the Committee on Justice of the House of Representatives to consider its proposals on the content of a pending bill classifying extrajudicial killings as a heinous crime, emphasizing the need to immediately pass the long overdue legislation.
The House Committee on Justice, which sponsored House Bill No. 10986 in October 2024 as a direct offshoot of the ongoing Quad Committee hearings on Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody drug war, held second hearing yesterday on the proposed law.
KARAPATAN has submitted a position paper to the committee, urging it to adopt the definition of extrajudicial killings, stressing State responsibility. Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay underscored during the committee’s first hearing on the bill that EJKs, as opposed to murder and homicide, bear the “imprint of the State.” EJKs are committed by State actors with authorization, support or acquiescence of those in public position, said Palabay.
The human rights alliance likewise called on the committee to include the need for extraordinary diligence among State actors in the discharge of their duties. This would serve to counter the outworn ‘nanlaban’ claims and the invocation of presumption of regularity among State actors in order to evade accountability.
“We also cannot overemphasize the importance of command responsibility and liability of commanding officers or superiors,” said Palabay. “Often, it is ordinary foot soldiers who are left holding the bag, so to speak, and their superiors who issued the orders go scot-free.”
Palabay likewise urged the committee to do away with a provision in the bill’s first draft exempting State actors from liability when the killing occurs during a “military situation.” The vast majority of victims of extrajudicial killings in 2024 were peasants who were made out to be armed combatants slain during fake encounters, Palabay pointed out. “If this provision is not stricken out,” she said, “impunity for such killings will continue to reign and justice will continue to elude the victims.”
“We hope the committee seriously considers our proposals in finalizing this bill, which is a welcome and long-overdue development in our efforts to exact justice and accountability for extrajudicial killings,” concluded Palabay.
