MANILA — Canada has denied permanent resident status to a former officer of the Philippine National Police for his role in the Duterte administration's bloody war on drugs, citing a law that bars entry and residence to those who have "[violated] human or international rights." 

The former police officer had gone to Canada in June 2021 on a spousal open work permit to join his wife but was told in May 2023 that he was inadmissible under Canadian immigration law.

The Immigration Division  found that the former police officer had been "complicit in acts committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against a civilian population...constituting offenses under Sections 4 to 7 of the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act," according to a Canadian Federal Court decision. 

The federal court said the ID had determined that the former PNP officer "made a voluntary, knowing, and significant contribution to the crimes against humanity committed by the drug units of the PNP as part of President Duterte’s war on drugs," a determination it agreed with.

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The decision, penned by Judge Angus Grant, was released on January 7, 2025, months before the Philippine government transported Duterte to the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands to face allegations of crimes against humanity in relation to the war on drugs.

COP WAS ASSIGNED TO MANILA POLICE DRUG UNIT

The police officer had been assigned at the Jose Abad Santos Police Station in Manila from January 2012 to June 2021 where he became part of the "Operation Double Barrel" that has been linked to "tokhang operations."

The court noted that the applicant served in the police station's Drug Enforcement Unit from December 2016 to February 2017.

While part of the DEU, he was involved in "conducting door-to-door visits, attempting to convince suspected drug users to 'surrender', and referring suspected drug users for 'verifications' to other drug enforcement units, or for 'intelligence' or other follow-up actions."

The court noted the former police officer's DEU team worked with another one that "was engaged in the more direct enforcement actions, including buy-busts and raids." 

He left the service in 2021 to move to Canada, where he was included in his wife's application for pemanent residence as a dependent spouse until he was found inadmissible in May 2023.

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Although the Immigration Division did not allege that the former police officer "directly committed crimes against humanity", it found him complicit and therefore inadmissible to the country.

"He provided in-depth knowledge of the anti-drug campaign, police operations in the drug enforcement unit (albeit he did not acknowledge any wrongdoing), and his team’s particular duties,” the court said, citing the decision of the ID.

“The ID observed it was highly unlikely that the Applicant would have been unaware of deaths stemming from activities at his own station given the evidence.”

The court agreed with the ID decision, dismissing the former police officer's application for judicial review.

Philippines to ensure Duterte gets fair trial at ICC: Palace

The Philippine Naitonal Police arrested Duterte on Tuesday as it assisted the International Criminal Police Organization, or Interpol, serve a warrant from the ICC.

Duterte, 79, faces a charge of "the crime against humanity of murder", according to the ICC, for the crackdown in which rights groups estimate tens of thousands of mostly poor Filipinos were killed by officers and vigilantes, often without proof they were linked to drugs.

Law enforcement agencies have acknowledged that more than 6,000 supposed drug personalities were killed in anti-drug operations, claiming that all of them violently resisted arrest.