Deeming drug suspects as guilty until proven otherwise in the proposed amendments by the House of Representatives to the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 violates international human rights treaties and principles, human rights watchdog Karapatan said. According to the group, the amendments under House Bill No. 7814 are “set to promote an even more menacing climate of impunity in the Philippines, especially in the Duterte government’s sham and bloody war on drugs.”
Deeming drug suspects as guilty until proven otherwise in the proposed amendments by the House of Representatives to the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 violates international human rights treaties and principles, human rights watchdog Karapatan said. According to the group, the amendments under House Bill No. 7814 are “set to promote an even more menacing climate of impunity in the Philippines, especially in the Duterte government’s sham and bloody war on drugs.”
“The right to presumption of innocence until proven guilty is a fundamental right under the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and our very own constitution. The proposed amendments to the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 directly contravene these core human rights treaties and principles and further accelerate the already dismal state of human rights in the country,” Karapatan Secretary Cristina Palabay asserted.
House Bill No. 7814 was passed by the House of Representatives on its third and final reading last Tuesday, March 2, with a total of 188 lawmakers voting in favor of the bill, while only 11 voted against and nine abstained. The bill proposes an amendment stating that “[u]nless proven otherwise, a person found or is present in the immediate vicinity of the area of sale, trading, marketing, dispensation, delivery or distribution, is presumed to have been involved in the sale, trade, or distribution of dangerous drugs, controlled precursors or essential chemicals.”
The bill also states in its provisions that, “[u]nless proven otherwise, a person who shields, harbors, screens, or facilitates the escape of, or prevents the arrest, prosecution, or conviction of the importer or exporter is presumed to have knowledge of, or has willfully consented to, the illegal importation or exportation and that he/she used his/her influence, power or position,” and such presumption of guilt can only be overturned “upon presentation of proof that the importation or exportation is authorized or valid.”
“Have we not heard enough of alleged drug suspects and even innocent passers-by being abducted or killed on mere suspicion — with their killings being justified by the police with the same ‘nanlaban’ narrative and by planting firearms and drugs on their bloodied corpses? Have we not heard of investigations proving this modus operandi in the government’s so-called ‘drug war?’ How many families have lost children, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters in this war where the presumption of innocence is already being brazenly violated?” Palabay asked.
The Karapatan official stated that House Bill No. 7814 “only gives more teeth to the Duterte government’s murderous rampage against the Filipino people and institutionalize it by explicitly violating the right to the presumption of innocence under our very own laws and the government’s policies — be it in the killings in the drug war or in the proposals to use drug war ‘tokhang’ tactics against ‘left-leaning’ individuals. Those who voted in favor of this bill have blood on their hands, and this bill should be strongly opposed by all Filipinos.”