THREE years after the start of the all-out drive against illegal drugs which went by the name “Tokhang,” some questions continue to be asked about the cases of some of those killed in the drive. Last Tuesday, the Supreme Court ordered the government to submit all documents pertaining to the drive, particularly on the number of persons killed in police operations since July 1, 2016.
The court said copies of the documents to be submitted by the Office of the Solicitor General will be provided the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) and the Center for International Law (Centerlaw), which are representing alleged victims of extra-judicial killings committed in the course of Philippine National Police (PNP) anti-drug operations.
The first time the Supreme Court called on the government to submit official police reports on anti-drug killings was on December 5, 2017. The court asked the PNP to submit reports on the death of some 4,000 drug suspects. But Solicitor General Jose Calida at that time said he could not comply with the order as “the documents required involve information and other sensitive matters that in the long run will have an undeniable effect on national security….”
The Supreme Court has now renewed its order to the government to release the documents on the police operations.
Last June 19, 2018, Presidential Communication Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar announced that a total of 4,279 drug suspects had been killed in the government’s anti-drugs campaign. “These are the real numbers,” he said as he denied estimates by various human rights and media organizations which had gone as high as 12,000.
The next week, the PNP came out with the report that aside from the 4,279 related to the anti-drugs campaign, there were 22,983 “Deaths Under Inquiry” in the first 665 days of the administration. These were deaths in various police cases – robberies, gang fights, ambushes, etc.
The spread of drugs has become a worldwide problem, with shabu – methamphetamine – as the most common drug used by Filipino addicts. At the height of the drug problem in the Philippines, shabu was being manufactured right here in clandestine laboratories in various parts of the country. When the laboratories were shut down in police operations, shabu shipments worth billions of pesos were smuggled into the country.
Very recently cocaine bricks, made from the coca plant prevalent in Colombia in South America, have been found floating in Philippine waters, giving rise to fears that other drug lords in the world are expanding their operations to our country. This is on top of the marijuana grown in remote mountain areas in Northern Luzon, opium from the poppy fields of South Asia, and drugs like Ecstasy from Europe favored by more affluent society figures.
President Duterte’s campaign came at just the right time to stop the drug problem from overwhelming the country. Some police forces may have committed some abuses in the initial phases of the campaign, but it is now proceeding with all due concern and respect for the law. We thus look forward to the full report that the Supreme Court has asked the PNP to submit in the cases now before it.
