Drug war review panel may miss November deadline for initial report due to recent calamities — Guevarra

The inter-agency panel reviewing deadly anti-drug police operations may release an initial report past its November deadline due to recent typhoons, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Friday.

"The review panel is drafting the initial report. We lost a number of working days due to recent calamities, so we may be constrained to submit it in December. Kindly bear with us," Guevarra said in a message to reporters.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) leads a panel of several government agencies, including law enforcement units, in reviewing 5,655 anti-drug operations that resulted in deaths to see whether to file charges against the police officers involved.

Guevarra announced the creation of the panel weeks after the UN human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, released a report finding "near impunity" for alleged extrajudicial killings committed in the Philippines.

He had said the panel may be able to come out with an initial or partial report of its findings by the end of November.

The Presidential Communications Operations Office, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Presidential Human Rights Committee Secretariat, the Presidential Management Staff, the Dangerous Drugs Board, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, the Philippine National Police, and the National Bureau of Investigation are part of the panel.

The Commission on Human Rights serves as an independent monitoring body.

The DOJ chief had said the panel also intends to engage victims' families by providing them with legal options and assisting in the prosecution of erring law enforcement agents.

The DOJ leads another task force investigating cases of political violence, such as the deaths of activists Randall Echanis and Zara Alvarez this year.

This group, called the AO 35 task force, will hold a human rights summit on December 7, Guevarra said. — RSJ, GMA News