The question for some people today is, “Is Extra Judicial Killing in the Philippines real?

Or is it
just an urban legend made up by parties that want to overthrow the current Administration?.” To
answer this, we must first define what extra judicial killing or EJK means.

The word extrajudicial means an act of persons in authority “done outside of court or not legally
authorized.” Hence, the meaning of extrajudicial killing –“ deliberated killing not authorized by a
previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court affording all the judicial guarantees
which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.” Now that we have defined what EJK is, we
must have an example. 

In President Duterte’s War Against Drug, there are people alleged to be drug addicts, couriers or
pushers that are killed in the streets by police officers. A perfect example is the case of Kian Loyd delos
Santos. We do not have to go into all of the facts of the case, we simply need to use our common sense
and understanding of what EJK is as defined in the preceding paragraph. Kian is a Grade 11 student
allegedly asked by his father to go to their store and close for the night. He was killed that night by 2
police officers who claim that he is a drug pusher, and while they were trying to apprehend Kian, he
fought back by firing a pistol at them. In the investigation, a CCTV footage showed that the 2 policemen
had already captured Kian and there was no gunfight.

Okay, let us assume that Kian is guilty of being a drug pusher. Can he be killed by the police
officers who apprehended him even though they can prove that he really is guilty? The answer is a
simple NO. The laws of our country respect the right of every person to his life, thus, giving criminals the
right to due process and to be tried in court.

Now to answer the question, let us again define what EJK is; –“ deliberated killing not authorized
by a previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court affording all the judicial guarantees
which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.” It is true that the police officers are in the
performance of their duty. And with the assumption that Kian is guilty, he should have been arrested.
BUT NOT KILLED. Was he afforded all of his judicial guarantees? No. Having no trial, was there any
judgement pronounced by a regularly constituted court? Once again, No. So, was he killed deliberately?
The answer is Yes.

With all the facts now established and the meaning of Extra Judicial Killing clear. Is EJK real or is
it just an urban legend? This paper’s answer is very clear, this is not anymore a matter of opinion or
truths. The writer recognizes that every person have their own opinion and may have their own version
of the truth, hence, we deal with facts. All we have to do now is look at the cold, hard and objective
facts to see that extra judicial killings in the country is VERY REAL. And that everyone should be
concerned by it, for the simple fact that the police officers who are deemed to be more morally
upstanding and who are tasked to serve and protect the people, are committing acts that they took an
oath to prevent and protect the people from. If the people cannot trust them, then who else will protect
the people?

This paper is written by Paolo Enrino Pascual, 1 st Year Section K of San Beda Law School, as his SEM1 assignment.