After news of a police officer killing an unarmed mother and son broke social media, the spotlight is back on the country’s bad rap for police brutality. And while some are quick to brush them off as isolated cases, an activist site has pulled up receipts saying otherwise.
Local activist collective Hacktibista has recently released a comprehensive list of abuses, brutality, and human rights violations attributed to the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines. The archive spans cases from 2014 until the present, and contains articles from various news sites.
The latest addition to the list is the Tarlac shooting by Master Sgt. Jonel Nuezca. There are 47 articles for 2020 alone, ranging from PNP Chief Debold Sinas’ infamous mañanita to the arrest of feeding program volunteers in Marikina back in May.
“This is not an ‘unfortunate isolated incident,’ this is an entire system,” reads Hacktibista’s caption on Instagram. “It’s always been like this, this one just happened to be caught on camera.”
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año recently said that the Tarlac shooting was “an unfortunate but isolated incident” and that “the sin of Nuezca is not the sin of the entire Philippine National Police.” The thought was echoed by PNP spokesperson Brig. Gen. Ildebrandi Usana and PNP chief Sinas.
However, Commission on Human Rights Commissioner Karen Dumpit refuted police claims. “It’s not really an isolated case, if you take a look at the language, if you take a look at the applause that comes after each and every killing,” she said. “And we’re not just talking about this case, there have been many in the past.”
See the entire list at Hacktibista’s site.
Read more:
The Tarlac shooting shouldn’t be just another statistic
The police are harassing people at gigs now
PNP and Air Force’s “fake warrant” prank isn’t funny, it’s tone-deaf
Photo from Inquirer.net