MANILA, Philippines – The memory of the night Manny* was killed remains vivid in the mind of his mother Lita* one year later.
His lifeless body slumped on the ground with a pool of blood slowly spreading on the ground, turned the gray concrete darker in color.
It was 10 pm, a few minutes before the vegetables he was supposed to sell were due to arrive. But Manny did not live long enough for the next day’s marketing chores as a man shot him at close range, piercing bullets into his cheek and neck, killing him instantly.
Just like the perpetrators of several thousand other extrajudicial killings, the suspect was wearing a bonnet, rendering him unidentifiable to possible witnesses. It didn’t help that the act was committed at night and in a place where foot traffic is scarce after the sun sets.
The absence of a lead that could point to the gunman’s identity remains one of the biggest hindrances to Lita’s pursuit of justice for her son – even if she wants to file a complaint so badly, seek redress before a court, and have judgment rendered on the perpetrator of the killing. (READ: Powering through a crisis: Defending human rights under Duterte)
“Hindi ko alam kung sino ang kakasuhan ko kasi unang-una, walang nakakilala at takot rin kami kasi noong namatay siya, may nagmanman sa amin,” she said. "Pero kung mabibigyan ng pagkakataon, kahit saan ilalaban ko at kahit mamatay ako basta magkaroon ng katarungan ang anak ko,” Lita added.
(I don’t know who I will charge in court because first of all, no one saw or recognized him. And we’re also afraid because after he was killed, we felt we were under surveillance. But if given the opportunity, I’ll file a complaint and fight anywhere, even if I die as long as I give justice to my son.)
Until justice is served, the death of her son – which she likened to losing a limb – will continue to feel like a festering wound.
“Mahigit isang taon na pero hindi ko pa rin matanggap kasi wala pang katarungan,” Lita said. “Siguro mangyayari lamang na makakalimutan ko na iyong nangyari sa kanya, kung magkakaroon ng katarungan.”
(It's been a year already but I still can't accept what happened because there’s been no justice. Maybe I will only forget what happened to my son when there’s justice already.)
Deterrents to solving crime
Manny's murder is just one among the 1,099 drug-related killings outside of police operations across Metro Manila. The killings stretch from July 2016 (about a month after President Rodrigo Duterte assumed office) until October 2018, with numbers based on statistics kept by the regional police command in charge of the area, the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO).
Metro Manila is the nation's capital. The cities and one municipality make up one of the most densely populated areas in the world – making it crime-prone.
Solving these drug-related killings has especially been difficult for Metro Manila. Of the 1,099 vigilante killings, only 327 have shown promising results: 131 have been solved and 196 have been cleared.
By "solved," cops mean that a case has been filed in court and that at least one suspect has been caught. "Cleared," on the other hand, means that there is already a case in court and at least one suspect has been identified. (READ: PNP says 125 cops punished for drug war-related offenses)
This means that a big majority of the drug-related vigilante killings, 70.2% of them, have not been filed in court and that no suspect has been identified.
We mapped the drug-related killings outside police operations during the first 26 months of President Duterte’s administration (see below)
The city of Manila registered the highest number of drug-related killings outside police operations, with its record standing at 161. Manila is where the presidential residence Malaca?ang is located, and where the administration’s so-called war on drugs was declared first in 2016. Of the 161 killings, only 8 have been cleared and 31 have been solved.
After Manila is Pasay, the city south of Manila which houses the country’s busiest airports. The city saw 149 drug-related killings, with only 7 cleared and 12 solved.
Despite its wide area and large population, Quezon City only counted 26 killings, with two cleared and 6 already solved. Financial capital Makati, meanwhile, recorded no drug-related killings outside police operations.
Pasig and Taguig rank no. 3 and 4 respectively in terms of drug-related killings outside police operations. The former tallied 122, while the latter counted 112 deaths.
Pasig has the highest number of cases filed in court without any suspects caught, recording 50.
Manila, meanwhile, saw the highest number of solved drug-related homicides, keeping a tally of 31. It is followed by Pateros, which, despite being the only municipality in the metro, has already solved 26 of the 68 drug-related killings in its area.
According to NCRPO Spokesperson Police Senior Inspector Myrna Diploma, the cases are moving forward at a glacial pace because their investigators want to be thorough before filing complaints.
Doing otherwise would risk dismissal at the prosecutor level.
“Dahil pinag-aaralan po namin nang maigi para maifile namin ‘yung kaso sa court (This is because we are studying the case carefully, so that we can file it in court,” Diploma told Rappler.
She admitted, however, that solving killings is especially difficult because “it involves the loss of a human life.” Besides, in high-level crimes, criminals usually have a deep motive and a detailed exit plan.
Diploma said homicide investigators usually end up facing a blank wall because of problems with witnesses. It’s not that there are no witnesses to the killings, but rather a case of them being afraid to speak up.
“Ayaw nilang madamay dahil natatakot nga sila or meron namang kilala nila kaya takot na takot talaga. Ayaw nilang madamay (They don’t want to be involved because they are afraid. There are some who know [the suspect] that's why they're really very afraid. They don’t want to get involved),” Diploma said.
Frightened witnesses are not new to policemen.
There are cases where witnesses could easily be tracked by culprits because of close connections, such as being friends or family. Then there are reported instances under the Duterte administration where families point to their local cops as having engineered the killings.
In 2017, Rappler reported on Tondo locals naming a cop as being behind killings of members of their community: Police Officer III Ronald Alvarez. When asked for comment, the Manila Police District just dared the witnesses to prove their claims.
Another reason why cases move forward at a snail's pace is that the witnesses simply don’t want to be bothered with them.
“Then ayaw din nilang maabala. ‘Yun ‘yung number 1 pa, ‘yung ayaw nilang maabala. Siyempre kasi pag naging witness ka po is maga-attend ka po ng mga court hearing, so hindi sila makakapasok sa kanilang mga, kung may mga trabaho po sila, ganon po,” Diploma said.
(They also don’t want to be bothered. That’s the number 1 [reason], they don’t want to be bothered. Of course it’s because when you become a witness, you need to attend court hearings, so they wouldn’t be able to go to work.)
Drug-related cases are also more complex than the non-drug related killings. Cops face the challenge of having to crack the circumstances of the murders, besides also needing to keep an eye out for the drug groups.
Doing these, former Philippine National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa once said, could cost the lives of their investigators.
The 5,050 killings in police operations are not criminally investigated by cops because, according to them, they are covered by so-called "presumption of regularity." This presumption, however, has already been debunked by a court conviction of 3 cops who murdered 17-year-old Kian delos Santos during a Caloocan City anti-drug sweep in 2017.
Human Rights lawyers also contest the same principle, saying that according to the PNP manual, deaths take away that presumption of regularity.
But where cops do not want to investigate, prosecutors should, according to a petition of the Center for International Law (CenterLaw) with the Supreme Court. Their petition seeks to declare the campaign against drugs unconstitutional.
The Duterte government confirms there have been 5,050 deaths from police anti-drug operations, as human rights groups peg the total death toll at 20,000 if deaths by unidentified assailants or vigilantes are included.
Yet Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors have only investigated at least 76 “murder and homicide cases allegedly related to the government’s campaign against drugs.”