On January 26, 2023, a pre-trial chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) authorized the court’s prosecutor to resume his investigation into the situation in the Philippines.
Department of Justice (File photo) MANILA - Four of 52 incidents under review for suspicious deaths during police operations have resulted in criminal cases. Cases have been filed in Regional Trial Courts involving the deaths of Carl Angelo Arnaiz (Navotas City); Richard Santillan and Gessamyn Casing (Cainta City, Rizal); Anwar Sawadjaan, Noel Bacalzo, and Angelo Hofer (Zamboanga del Norte); and Sharif Amatonding (San Pedro, Laguna). Last year, the Philippine National Police Internal Affairs Services released information on the 52 cases to the Department of Justice (DOJ), part of the more than 150 incidents under review. The DOJ has since turned over the case files to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). "Per the initial report of the NBI dated 4 January 2022, most of the 52 cases turned over by the PNP Internal Affairs Service are still under evaluation by the regional offices or are presently subject of case build-up," DOJ Secretary Menardo Guevarra said via text mes