Dispatch from Crame No. 783:
Sen. Leila M. de Lima on the Series of Violent Encounters During the Implementation of ECQ

4/29/20

Hindi na ito tama. Hindi na katanggap-tanggap ang mga napapaulat na paglabag sa mga karapatang pantao sa ngalan ng pagpapatupad ng mga ECQ rules.

We need to establish better clearer rules of engagement for the enforcement of community quarantine rules. Our police officers are expected to make situational decisions that they are not properly trained to do. The killing of Cpl. Winston Ragos and the physical altercation of the police with Javier Parra in Dasmariñas Village are just two examples of escalated tension between civilians and law enforcers.

Kailangan ba tutukan ng baril ang mga sibilyan na nakikipagtalo sa opisyal na nagpapatupad ng quarantine? Paano ba ang dapat gawin sa sibilyan na hindi sumusunod sa atas ng opisyal? Paano ba ang dapat gawin sa nagpoprotesta sa pinapatupad na quarantine rules? Dapat ba dakpin ang mga walang facemask o dapat pamahaginan nito?

We need to understand that quarantine does not suspend our constitution and human rights. Our police force and our government have the frightening power to destroy human lives, that is why they are given the burden, and the implicit duty, to hold their temper in the face of dissent.

Since it is the first time that our police officers are enforcing a quarantine, many of them are having problems calibrating their response, treating belligerence as threatening criminal offenses. It is not helping, as it is most deplorable, that the current occupant in Malacañang publicly instructs our law enforcers to commit violence against quarantine violators. ###

(Access the handwritten copy of Dispatch from Crame No. 783 here: https://issuu.com/senatorleilam.delima/docs/dispatch_no._783)