GUNS DO NOT MEAN ABUSES
by: Jenny Rose Capari
One may think that the holidays during a pandemic where everyone is not advised to be out in public may seem quiet and calm. One can only imagine. Five days before Christmas, two innocent people were murdered by a proud police officer in broad daylight. Sonya Gregorio and Frank Gregorio were shot by Jonel Nuezca who attempted to arrest Frank for using boga, a makeshift canon out of bamboo commonly used during New Year. The incident was recorded and was posted on social media allowing for it to rapidly spread. The thing is, a case like this one is not the first to happen in the country and unfortunately some of them go undocumented.
Due to the latest incident, the public was taken aback by the thousands of previous police killings and their malevolent misconduct in the public after President Duterte was elected in 2016. Under his bloody war on drugs, high official figures and critics reported almost 6,000 were killed in police operations at the end of September. However, to cite a few recent cases this year, last April, CNN reports that a police officer shot an ex-soldier near a quarantine checkpoint in Quezon City. On June 29, nine cops shot down four intelligent officers in Jolo, Sulu. The pieces of evidence on the said incidents revealed that they were planted. Rappler also reports three months ago that the police chief of Kawit, Cavite, together with his five allies, were arrested after forcibly dragging a woman out of her home in front of her children.
The latest incident in Tarlac province caused outrage online with the hashtags #StopTheKillingsPH and #EndPoliceBrutality. People called for justice for the victims and to end police brutality and impunity. That bold and brutal killing that happened without mercy could possibly be one of the dismissed or closed cases if it was not recorded. Had there been no evidence, would it have been another pass-by issue with a cover-up story that talks about the victim being a drug pusher or posing a fierce resistance? It is wrong to assume things but this is not entirely impossible with all the recent reports of abuses. Aside from critics who have expressed their distress towards the growing undocumented cases of brutality done by some members of our Philippine National Police (PNP), Human Rights Watch also pointed out how the Tarlac shooting can be considered as a clear depiction that many members of our Philippine police are simply out of control and that many killings have resulted to the government’s failure to hold law enforcers accountable that prohibits a culture of violence and impunity.
This year marks our 72nd year of celebrating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, the clear patterns of police brutality only reveal that we have to reclaim its lost value and stand for what is right and just. During this time of the pandemic, human rights and dignity shall not be forsaken.
However, on Tuesday, days after the shooting incident in Tarlac, the Philippine National Police (PNP) announced that they are planning on upholding an anger management study so that police officers would know how to effectively deal with every public situation when it comes to confronting any civilian that could prevent gun violence and other violations of their operational procedures. This deliberation might be effective to help train our police personnel to avoid life-threatening casualties. However, this shouldn’t suffice alone to aid tough circumstances, we shall propose that PNP will revert to their fold policy that will make all police personnel including generals, and the whole organization to swift to military justice. This will instill fear among uniformed personnel to stay on their lane and avoid a felony.
The offender, Jonel Nuezca, on his committed homicide case was a clear manifestation of dominance and misconduct of some of our armed officials in recent months who reinforced impunity so long as they work under Duterte’s regime who has given them the blessing and protection to be able to fully make use of their authority and power. This consideration extends to how we should keep an eye on the misbehavior of the police organization to ensure that no one will suffer the same fate as Sonya Gregorio and her son Frank Anthony at the hands of the oppressors. It should also be highlighted that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as a humanitarian protocol must be widely comprehensive and prevalent in a country like the Philippines, because even though there has been a lot of impartment of knowledge on younger generations regarding this, the reality of those learnings were only taken lightly and others show only little interest on these lawful humanitarian declarations.
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