Police may have used unnecessary lethal force in Kidapawan – human rights group

The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said police may have used unnecessary lethal force in breaking up a demonstration by farmers in Kidapawan City on April 1, 2016. HRW said police used truncheons and guns against the protesters, including women and children, some of whom threw rocks at the police to prevent them from hurting them further. Darwin Sulang, 22, and a city resident Enrico Fabligar, 30, were killed and 116 were reported to have been hit by bullets and required hospitalization while the Philippine National Police (PNP) said about 100 of its members were hurt. Police have jailed 79 protesters, some of whom were elderly women and pregnant, and charged 74 of them with offenses, including assaulting a police officer. The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has already criticized the PNP for using firearms during the dispersal in violation of the rules during such an operation while the [...]