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SC to Calida: Drug war records won’t compromise nat’l security


Contrary to the argument of Solicitor General Jose Calida, the documents requested by the Supreme Court (SC) in relation with the Duterte administration's anti-drugs campaign will not compromise national security, the high tribunal said.

In a 52-page notice of resolution explaining its denial of Calida's appeal on the order for him to submit several drug-war related records, the SC said it is "ridiculous" for Calida to claim that the records requested by some justices contain information so "sensitive" that even the country's highest court cannot look into them.

"Contrary to the claim of the Solicitor General, the requested information and documents do not obviously involve state secrets affecting national security," the SC said. "The information and documents relate to routine police operations involving variations of laws against the sale or use of illegal drugs."

"There is no showing that the country's territorial integrity, national sovereignty, independence, or foreign relations will be compromised or prejudiced by the release of these information and documents to this Court or even to the public," it added.

According to the SC, the requested information does not involve rebellion, invasion, terrorism, espionage, foreign infringement of the Philippines' sovereignty, or any military or diplomatic secret involving national security.

"It is simply ridiculous to claim that these information and documents on police operations against drug pushers and users involve national security matters so sensitive that even this Court cannot peruse these information and documents in deciding constitutional issues affecting the fundamental right to life and liberty of thousands of ordinary citizens," the SC stated.

Following oral arguments on the petitions challenging the constitutionality of President Rodrigo Duterte's widely criticized anti-narcotics campaign in November and December, the SC ordered Calida, who lawyers for the government, to submit records which include the list of persons killed in legitimate police operations from July 1, 2016 to November 30, 2017, deaths investigation during the same period, warrants and warrantless arrests in High-Value Targets police operations, and statistics of internal cleansing within the police force.

But Calida appealed, saying the submission of such reports will compromise police operations and informants' safety. The SC denied his motion last week, giving the respondents 15 days upon receipt of notice to turn in the requested documents.

"By requiring the respondents to submit the aforementioned information and documents, the Court has ventured into unwarranted factual inquiries," Calida said in his motion for reconsideration.

He said the SC is not a "trier of facts," a position the SC agreed with, but with the clarification that its order is "about the existence of the requested information and documents."

"This Court would like to determine for itself, through the existence of the requested information and documents, whether the conduct of operations were indeed done in the performance of official functions," the tribunal said.

Moreover, the SC said Calida presented an "incomplete enumeration" of the required information and documents in his motion for reconsideration, "effectively ignor[ing] the request of Justice (Teresita) Leonardo-De Castro and Chief Justice (Maria Lourdes) Sereno."

"The OSG (Office of the Solicitor General) categorized Justice Leonardo-De Castro's request for the references mentioned in CMC 16-2016, as well as Justice (Alfredo Benjamin) Caguioa's request for an official copy of PNP's Double Barrel Alpha, or Command Memorandum Circular No. 01-2017, among this Court's "unwarranted factual inquiries," the Court said.

Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio, and Associate Justices Noel Tijam, Marvic Leonen and Andres Reyes, Jr. also requested documents from Calida during the oral arguments.

'Why so many deaths?'

Moreover, the high tribunal said it has taken judicial notice of the Duterte administration's 2017 yearend report, which supposedly branded as "accomplishments" drug-related deaths and police internal cleansing.

"This Court wants to know why so many deaths happened as expressly reported under the section 'Fighting Illegal Drugs' of the Duterte's Administration 2017 Yearend Report," the SC said.

This report was quoted in the notice of resolution as stating "3,967 drug personalities had died in anti-drug operations from July 1, 2016, to November 27, 2017," and "16,355 homicide cases under investigation from July 1, 2016 to September 27, 2017."

These figures make for 20,322 deaths under Duterte's anti-drug war from July 1, 2016 to November 27, 2017, or an average of 39.46 deaths a day, the Court said.

Citing other numbers listed in the report on deaths and the "internal cleansing" within Philippine National Police ranks, the Court said: "Apart from these numbers and their bare allegations, there is nothing else to substantiate the OSG's claim of legitimate police operations."

"The lack of any submission of the required information and documents leads this Court to believe that there is no basis to the OSG's claim," it said.

More, the tribunal said the PNP cannot claim the presumption of regularity, "because deaths are not supposed to occur during any of their operations."

"The OSG's continued refusal to submit to this Court's requirement will lead this Court to presume that these information and documents, because they are willfully suppressed, will be adverse to the OSG's case," it said.  —KBK, GMA News

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