6 Police Officers in the Philippines Face Murder Charges for Killing Unarmed Teen

Six police officers in the Philippines are under criminal investigation for murder for fatally shooting a 17-year-old teenager who they allegedly mistook him for a murder suspect. 17-year-old Jerhode Baltazar died after being shot in the head last Wednesday in Manila.

As authorities attempted to arrest him, he jumped into the sea. Given that the teen was unarmed, police admitted it was a “lapse in judgement” for killing him.

“They cannot claim self-defense. “They were unable to establish that the victim resisted arrest,” Navotas city police commander Col Allan Umipig told the BBC.

It was unclear what led authorities to assume the boy was the individual they were looking for. They had been entrusted with apprehending a suspect in a different incident that had also occurred in Navotas.

The six cops were removed from their duties and imprisoned as authorities investigated whether they could be prosecuted with homicide, a crime punishable by up to 20 years in jail under Philippine law. Local news outlets have extensively covered the shooting.

Jesse Baltazar, the victim’s father, was shown on social media hugging his son’s body after it was retrieved out of the ocean.

Mr Balazar was perplexed as to why his kid was wounded in the head when the police officers said they had simply fired warning shots.

The victim’s mother, who works in Qatar, was able to visit her son’s casket through video conference. She informed local television that she had no idea her next remittance would be for her son’s burial.

Jeraldine Tolentino, the victim’s sister, also told local media that she declined a 50,000-peso ($1,000; £698) bribe to deter the family from pursuing the case.

In recent years, law enforcement in the Philippines has refuted charges of extrajudicial killings of criminal suspects, particularly those implicated in illegal drugs. They have both denied any misconduct.

Alleged summary executions of individuals who allegedly resisted arrest surged throughout former President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration, which ended in mid-2022. He is under investigation by the International Criminal Court, which he refuses to acknowledge. Mr. Duterte is currently living in retirement in Davao City.

Critics claim that his tough attitude on crime has created an environment conducive to police misbehaviour. He, on the other hand, has justified his characteristic drive as important for keeping Filipinos safe from street violence.

Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Duterte’s successor, has scaled back his anti-narcotics crusade. State actors, on the other hand, have been suspected of being involved in high-profile deaths, such as that of journalist Percival Mabasa in November 2022.

In April 2023, a police officer in the Philippines was found guilty of murdering two teens in a rare conviction tied to the country’s so-called “war on drugs” in which former President Rodrigo Duterte pushed authorities to destroy drug suspects, according to Aljazeera.

According to official data, more than 6,200 individuals were slain in the deadly anti-narcotics campaign during Duterte’s six-year administration, which ended in 2022.

According to a United Nations report published in 2021, 8,663 individuals were killed in anti-drug operations, although the Philippines Commission on Human Rights and local human rights organisations believe the death toll could be three times higher.

According to local media sources quoting court papers, ex-police officer Jefrey Perez was found guilty on March 1 and sentenced to 20 years in prison for the 2017 murders of Reynaldo De Guzman, 14, and Carl Arnaiz, 19.

Perez was already serving a lengthy prison sentence after a court convicted him guilty in November of torturing and planting evidence on the same teenagers. During the first trial, one of the defendants, police officer Ricky Arquilita, died. Both disputed the allegations.

According to Rappler, Perez was also ordered to give compensation to the “families of the victims for the deaths of their sons.”

Only three police officers had previously been found guilty of a single killing in connection with the ex-president’s drug war operation, which is under investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

In court, a witness claimed that he observed a police car parked on the side of the road and watched as a handcuffed Arnaiz exited the vehicle with his hands raised, shouting “I will surrender” before being killed down by the cops. De Guzman’s body was later discovered north of Manila, with hundreds of stab wounds.

“On the evening of August 18, 2017, Arnaiz and De Guzman, who were neighbours in Cainta Rizal, decided to go out for a snack but failed to return home,” local news outlet BusinessMirror reported.

“Ten days later, their bodies were discovered in a creek in Gapan, Nueva Ecija, with Arnaiz suffering gunshot wounds and De Guzman being stabbed 30 times,” according to the article.

Current Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Junior has pledged to continue the drug war, but with an emphasis on prevention and rehabilitation rather than killing.

The dead Perez teenagers were last seen together on August 17, 2017. According to human rights organisations, the killings have not stopped.

The ICC announced in January that it would begin its probe because it was “not satisfied” with how the Philippines handled the case.

Duterte said in March 2018 that the Philippines will withdraw from the ICC and would not participate with any probe. However, the ICC had jurisdiction to probe crimes committed until March 2019, when the Philippines officially withdrew from the court.

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