A/HRC/44/22 Quezon City. Eventually the family got a call that bodies believed to be of the two brothers were brought into police camp Karingal in Quezon City. There, they were able to identify the bodies as Crisanto and Juan Carlos. Crisanto and Juan Carlos’ mother, Llore Benedicto, said the police told the family that a police-accredited funeral parlour took the bodies from the morgue. The parlour, notorious for profiteering off the anti-illegal drugs campaign, reportedly had close ties with local police, claimed unidentified bodies and processed them for a fee. Benedicto said that the parlour asked for PHP 112,000 (approximately USD 2,200), to be paid on the day before the internment. The family did not have the money, so the parlour refused to let her even see her sons’ bodies. It took days for the family to negotiate the price down to PHP 75,000 – of which PHP 50,000 was to be paid in cash for the release of the bodies and the remaining PHP 25,000 had to be settled before the family could get death certificates required for the burial. Eight days after her sons were killed, Llore Benedicto finally saw their bodies. “I asked myself, is this what it feels to lose someone in the President’s ‘war on drugs’? I lost my loved ones and I still get to suffer in every step – including the funeral home.” The victims’ family denied that Crisanto and Juan Carlos ever owned guns, and said that while they had used drugs in the past, they had stopped doing so for more than a year prior to their killing. The family did not pursue a case against the police due to the lack of means, witnesses, a lack of faith in the justice system, and for fear of retaliation, Benedicto said. “Everybody knows that unless you have evidence or witnesses willing to step forward, the case will not go anywhere”, admitted Llore Benedicto. She vowed, however, to continue her quest for justice in international venues: “When a grieving parent or family cries because of a violent experience like this…I learned that when you cry, you gain more strength to fight. To fight for justice no matter how long.” The following is an account of the killing of a municipal councilor, allegedly by NPA, for refusal to pay “revolutionary taxes”. The account is drawn from submissions received by OHCHR and an investigation by the Commission on Human Rights. The real names, dates and locations are not used in the account below, for the protection of surviving family members At around 7:00 on 15 May 2019, more than 50 heavily armed people on board three trucks stopped outside the house of municipal councilor Jose dela Suarez, according to his mother. She said the armed men scattered themselves and broke into the room where dela Suarez was, with his wife and young child. The family hid under their bed, but one of the intruders spotted dela Suarez. Dela Suarez’s sister said that the assailant immediately sprayed the victim with bullets, pulled him out and proceeded to repeatedly stab him with a knife. The assailants then gathered money and jewelry from the house before driving off, chanting “mabuhay ang NPA” (“long live the NPA”), the victim’s mother said. Investigators of the Commission on Human Rights interviewed witnesses who said that dela Suarez had been repeatedly approached by individuals claiming to be members of NPA, demanding “revolutionary taxes”. Over many years, Dela Suarez had refused to pay up. A year before his killing, dela Suarez had received a letter warning him against running for re-election. Suspects have been identified in the case and court proceedings are ongoing. OHCHR received a number of accounts of NPA violations. Further investigations are required in such cases. While there are no comprehensive figures on NPA violations, the Government has informed OHCHR that 80 incidents allegedly perpetrated by NPA are being monitored under Administrative Order 35. 22