WE strongly condemn the signing into law of Republic Act 10973 which grants subpoena powers to the chief of Philippine National Police (PNP) as well as the director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).
Such measure will further result to abuses of police power. The PNP is already known as abusers of their authority so granting the subpoena power to them can further suppress, intimidate and harass political dissenters or any individual whom the state perceivesd to be an enemy.
Before the law was enacted, the requirement was to get the permission of the court should be sought before any warrant can be granted. Despite this, police forces continue to illegally arrest, detain and charge innocent people with cases based on manufactured evidences.
This law will only worsen the human rights crisis in the country. It will deny people of the due process of law and will make justice more elusive for victims and their families, reinforcing impunity on human rights violations in the country.
This latest move of Malacanang proved the tyrannical rule of the current administration. Instead of pursuing investigations of extra judicial killings allegedly committed by the PNP and AFP, the President slams Filipino people with yet another despotic move.
Thousands of individuals were already killed and children are not spared and not a single perpetrator has been held accountable. We fear that the numbers might rise, citing the recent case of a police officer who killed 13-year old Aldrin Pineda in Tondo, Manila City--Children’s Rehabilitation Center