“License to Kill”

Napoleon Miras Ai-Ai, July 24
Barangay Antipona, Bocaue, Bulacan province
Napoleon Miras, 27, was a tricycle driver whose live-in partner was a drug dealer. He
frequently drove her around to make drug deliveries. He also became a shabu user and
small-time dealer himself. 121
According to relatives with whom he lived, on July 24 his live-in partner went to see her
supplier to purchase shabu. Police followed her on her way back home, and soon after her
return at about 11:30 a.m. a team of Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) agents
stormed the house, shouting “Police! Police! Nobody move!” Local uniformed police
secured the perimeter of the home. 122 Miras tried to hide under the floor of the home, but
when the police asked for him by name, his father told him to surrender to the police and
he did so. 123
The PDEA agents took Miras outside, but then decided to take him back into the home and
take him upstairs while they searched the home for drugs. 124 . A few minutes later, the
family members, who were downstairs on their knees with their hands behind their heads,
heard eight gunshots upstairs. 125 One relative said: “A neighbor later told us that he could
see inside the room where Napoleon was, and he was also on his knees with his hands up
when he was gunned down.” After the shooting, the PDEA agents and police waited for the
SOCO investigators to arrive. 126
According to the police report, the police “conducted anti-illegal drugs buy-bust
operation against Napoleon Miras Ai-Ai (alias “Nono”), which led in the death of suspect
‘Nono’ in a shootout after he initiated firefight against [police] operatives.” The police
report claims a .38 caliber revolver, live ammunition and one spent shell, and an
121 Human Rights Watch interview with relative of Napoleon Miras, name withheld, Bulacan, October 21, 2016.
122 Ibid.
123 Ibid.
124 Ibid.
125 Ibid.
126 Ibid.
51 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | MARCH 2017