Bato okays release of drug-related documents to SC
CEBU CITY–The Philippine National Police (PNP) is willing to submit the necessary documents requested by the Supreme Court (SC) in relation to the government’s war on drugs.
But Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, outgoing PNP chief, said it has to be on a “case to case basis” only, and that not all information can be relayed to the highest court in the country.
“We can’t divulge everything (to the Supreme Court) because we have projects that involved, not just policemen, but civilians as well,” he said in a press conference following the launching of the 26th Defense and Sporting Arms Show at SM City Cebu on Thursday morning.
Dela Rosa expressed fears that drug syndicates would learn about what was supposed to be discreet information from the PNP and would take advantage of it.
“If drug syndicates would know about it, I pity those people who gave us the information so that members of these syndicates would be arrested,” he said.
Dela Rosa said the PNP was banking on whatever move the Solicitor General would take on the SC order.
Last Tuesday, the High Court directed Solicitor General Jose Calida to make good on his promise to submit the PNP investigation reports on the killing of more than 4,000 drug suspects in President Rodrigo Duterte’s relentless war on drugs.
Voting unanimously, the 12 justices denied Calida’s appeal to rescind their Dec. 5, 2017 order requiring the submission of the official PNP reports on the killings of drug suspects during the implementation of “Oplan Tokhang.”
The Center for International Law (Centerlaw), which represents the two groups of petitioners—families of slain drug suspects—filed a petition before the SC in 2017 and questioned the constitutionality of the government’s war on drug.
Last December, the High Court mandated the PNP to submit several documents in relation to its anti-drugs operations, including the lists of persons killed in legitimate police operations, and deaths under investigation from July 1, 2016 to November 30, 2017, names of Chinese and Filipino-Chinese drug lords who have been neutralized, comparative tables on index crimes, and statistics of internal cleansing within the police force.
Calida earlier told the High Court that the submission of drug war reports would compromise the government’s war on drugs.
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