The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) is deeply concerned with the news on another death of a minor—this time involving a 16-year old boy who allegedly fought back (nanlaban) when police officers were serving a warrant for a drug charge in Biñan, Laguna.

We shall be conducting our own independent probe on this incident to pursue the truth behind the incident and, more importantly, in pursuit of justice should it be proven that a human rights violation was perpetrated by the police.

Based on the official report of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Calabarzon, victims Johndy Maglinte, 16, and his companion Antonio Dalit exchanged shots with the Laguna police when they were serving a warrant for Dalit, which lead to their death.

In contrast, Maglinte’s live-in partner, who is also a minor, recounted in several media interviews how Dalit was killed first and, since Johndy witnessed the alleged killing, the police reportedly shot him too—handcuffed and facing down into the mud.

As such, we strongly urge the government to speed-up their investigations on cases of alleged extrajudicial killings, especially those linked to the government’s drug campaign. Notably, there was already an observation from the UN Human Rights Office on the “widespread and systematic killing of thousands of alleged drug suspects” and the persistent impunity in the country that urgently need to be addressed.

We hope that commitments to uphold human rights translate to delivering justice to the aggrieved and improvements on government programmes and policies, including reviewing the conduct of State agents in implementing them.

Our government has the primary obligation to respect, protect, and fulfill the rights of all. It is to the best interest of the government as well to demonstrate that lapses are firmly and urgently addressed and that reforms are also underway to allay concerns of the international community on the effectiveness of our domestic justice and accountability mechanisms.

CHR, in line with its mandate as the country’s independent national human rights institution, shall continue to advise and extend willingness to cooperate with the government in investigating these cases, including the other forms of human rights violations, for the welfare of the victims and in preventing similar incidences from happening again. #ItigilAngPatayan