A human rights lawyer on Friday urged the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to be more active in helping solve drug-related killings, especially in cases where police say suspects resist arrest and put up a fight. “I already told him that [the CHR should]have an active role in exposing the scheme of the police alleging that the drug addict or pusher had put up a fight. Another forum speaker, Ryan Jeremiah Quan, also a lawyer who works at CHR, said such killings have become a new normal. He blamed social media and millions of followers of President Rodrigo Duterte for the apathy, making people not feeling any personal connection and making human rights an abstract notion. Diokno urged the new leaders of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines to be more vocal against extrajudicial killings (EJKs) and the “new normal” killings of suspected drug pushers/users via buy-busts.

Source: Manila Times July 14, 2017 13:30 UTC