Govt vows to release drug-war records
Credit to Author: CATHERINE S. VALENTE, TMT| Date: Wed, 03 Apr 2019 19:16:15 +0000
Malacañang has assured the public that the Duterte administration would abide by the Supreme Court’s ruling to release all copies of police reports related to the government’s war on illegal drugs.
Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo on Wednesday said the executive branch, as a respecter of rule of law, would heed the order of the high tribunal.
“We always follow the rule of law. The Supreme Court has spoken,” the Palace official said in a statement.
“Unless it reverses itself upon a motion for reconsideration by the solicitor general, obedience to its ruling should come as a matter of course,” he said.
The Supreme Court en banc on Tuesday ordered the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to submit copies of drug war records related to deaths linked to the government’s anti-drug operations.
The OSG was also ordered to furnish copies of the documents to petitioners, who had questioned the legality of the government’s drug war before the court.
Petitioners who will be provided copies are the Center for International Law (CenterLaw) representing residents of 26 villages in San Andres Bukid, Manila, and the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG).
“The court ordered the solicitor general to submit the police reports [concerning Oplan Tokhang, the government’s drug war strategy] to the Supreme Court copy furnishing the petitioners,” the high tribunal said.
In 2017, the CenterLaw and FLAG urged the Supreme Court to halt the implementation of Duterte’s drug war.
This prompted the high tribunal to require Solicitor General Jose Calida to submit full documentation of around 3,000 deaths, which the government claimed were a result of legitimate police anti-drug operations.
Calida, however, had filed a motion for reconsideration defying the Supreme Court’s order, saying the Duterte government could not divulge “sensitive information that have national security implications.”
“Our position was we should not give because we are not trying the entire EJKs (extrajudicial killings) in the Philippines. And besides the Supreme Court [is] not a trier of fact[s],” he said on the sidelines of oral arguments in the high tribunal on March 5 this year.
“There are still cases that are still being investigated by the law enforcement [units]. It’s still ongoing… then they will know the movements of our operatives,” Calida added.
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