Three men were killed during an anti-drug operation consisting of 15 police officers in Tondo, Manila, last Oct. 11, Reuters reported yesterday.
The victims were identified as Rolando Campo, 60 years old, Sherwin Bitas, 34 years old, and Ronnie Cerbito, 18 years old.
The officers claimed they shot the men in self-defense and that they rushed the men to a hospital after the incident. According to a police report, Campo was allegedly selling drugs to a plainclothes cop but sensed that they were police. He then instructed Bitas and Cerbito to shoot.
But these statements contradict CCTV footage.
A video of the incident shows that Campo was talking to people before police arrived in the area, and was not selling drugs. They also waited more than 2o minutes to move the victims’ bodies to a pedicab.
The incident happened on Oct. 11, one day after he removed the Philippine National Police (PNP) as the lead on the anti-drug operations.
Earlier today, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the government will investigate what really happened on that day.
“I assure you authorities are now looking into this matter. We are in the process of authenticating the video,” Roque told reporters.
The Manila Police District also said in a statement released today that they will conduct an in-depth investigation of the incident.
Last week, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he was thinking of bringing back the PNP as head of anti-drug operations but on Sunday, Roque took it back and said the president was still thinking about it.
PNP Chief Rondal Dela Rosa said yesterday that the force has started to prepare for this possibility and will head the operations with “extreme caution.”
According to the PNP, 3,518 people have died in anti-drug operations since the war on drugs started last year but human rights groups reported numbers as high as 13,000.
