SC urged: Stop Duterte admin’s war on drugs

Alleged victims of the Duterte administration’s war against illegal drugs on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to put a stop to the campaign that has already claimed thousands of lives since July last year.

Represented by the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), petitioners Aileen Almora, Rowena Aparri, and Jefferson Soriano said the Command Memorandum Circular (CMC) No. 16 – 2016, the governing document of the anti-drug campaign issued by Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald Dela Rosa on July 1, 2016, was unconstitutional.

Petition filed with SC seeking to declare unconstitutional the governing PNP circular on war on drugs. @gmanews pic.twitter.com/K510wMcRZI

— Virgil Lopez (@virgillopez) October 11, 2017

The petitioners said the circular expressly authorizes the police to kill suspected drug pushers and replaces the police function of evidence gathering and case build-up with that of compiling lists of suspected drug personalities for the purpose of “neutralizing” them.

They said the house-to-house visits under Oplan Tokhang were not meant to persuade drug offenders to stop their illegal activities but rather to kill those who refused to be persuaded as well as those who deny involvement in criminal activity.

Moreover, the circular was also based on mere verbal campaign promise by then Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to rid the country of illegal drugs within the first six months of his term, according to the petition.

That same circular, however, assured that police operations must conform with the provisions of Republic Act 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act, Rules of Court, accepted principles of international law, and respect human rights.)

Also, the petitioners called on the SC to declare unconstitutional Department of Interior and Local Government Memorandum Circular 2017-112, which establishes a system of anonymous reporting of suspected criminals, for violating the right to due process of law and to be presumed innocent.

They said submitting the names of alleged criminals can be done by anyone who suspects, rightly or wrongly, that another person is a criminal.

The petitioners urged the high court to issue writ of amparo and temporary protection order prohibiting policemen from entering within a radius of one kilometer from their residences and places of work as well as to prevent the respondents from harassing them.

They also asked the SC to order the National Bureau of Investigation to conduct an “impartial” probe on the deaths of Ryan Dave Almora and Rex Aparri, relatives of petitioners Aileen Almora and Rowena Aparri, respectively, and the shooting of Soriano.

Named respondents to the petition were Dela Rosa and DILG Undersecretary and officer-in-charge Catalino Cuy and all officers, agents or other persons acting under their authority and supervision. 

Another petition filed by a group of lawyers last month urges the SC to order the PNP, Department of Justice and Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to look into the spate of alleged extrajudicial killings in connection with the war on drugs.

Duterte has bristled at criticisms of his anti-illegal drugs policy in which thousands have been killed since he took power on June 30 last year.

His outbursts were aimed at the United States, the United Nations, the European Union, the CHR, human rights groups and other international institutions that disagree with his heavy handed approach to curb the drug menace.

The President's allies in the House of Representatives even at one point slashed the CHR budget for 2018 to P1,000 before deciding to come up with an allocation of P508 million, which is still lower than its proposed P623.38-million budget. —LBG/RSJ, GMA News