“What lies ahead for the Filipino people with Sinas’s appointment is a bloody party of human rights violations where Duterte’s most rabid and murderous lapdogs are given freer rein to merrily kill, kill, and kill with wanton impunity.”
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – Human rights group Karapatan said that the appointment of Major General Debold Sinas as the new Philippine National Police (PNP) chief would mean more human rights violations.
The rights alliance said that the appointment of Sinas came as no surprise as President Rodrigo Duterte “has a clear penchant for rewarding the most notorious of human rights violators among his minions with rank promotions as well as higher budgets for their agencies.”
Taking into account Sinas’s record, Karapatan said, “What lies ahead for the Filipino people with Sinas’s appointment is a bloody party of human rights violations where Duterte’s most rabid and murderous lapdogs are given freer rein to merrily kill, kill, and kill with wanton impunity.”
Sinas was widely criticized for the mañanita or dawn celebration of his 55th birthday last May. Photos of his birthday party circulated online amid the strict implementation of lockdown and the arrest of thousands of so-called quarantine violators without legal basis.
Read: Factory worker in Cavite allegedly mauled by police over ECQ violations
Karapatan pointed out Sinas’s graver sins which include the implementation of the Synchronized Enhanced Management of Police Operations and Oplan Sauron in Negros last year, which led to the killings of farmers and human rights advocates.
During his stint as regional director of the Central Visayas Police Regional Office from July 2018 to October 2019, the local Commission on Human Rights office noted the increase of drug-related killings in the region.
As Metro Manila police chief, Sinas also led police raids in the offices of progressive groups, including the office of Bayan-Metro Manila which led to the arrest of Reina Mae Nasino and two others.
In a statement, Bayan-Metro Manila said that under Sinas’s watch, Metro Manila became a “hot spot for human rights abuses.”
“Lockdown restrictions led to draconian control of the population, overkill deployment of troops in communities, and imposition of harsh penalties on so-called pasaway or quarantine violators. Tens of thousands of desperate individuals seeking food, aid, and jobs were slapped with fines and even spurious charges for alleged quarantine violations,” the group said.
Bayan-Metro Manila said Sinas should be punished instead of being promoted.
