Palace: Case build up in drug war killings proves gov't ready to crack whip vs. erring cops

Malacañang said Thursday the Justice department's referral of 52 drug war killings during police operations to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for case build up proves the Duterte administration is not treating erring police officers with kid gloves.

"The decision of the DOJ proves that we are not soft [on erring police officials]. Kakasuhan [ang may kasalanan] kasi nirefer sa NBI for case build up (There will be cases filed because it was referred to the NBI for case build up)," presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said.

"Of course, since cases will be filed, we have to make sure that the evidence is airtight," he added.

DOJ Undersecretary Adrian Sugay earlier said that aside from the 52 cases, the Justice department has also finished reviewing 300 other cases of drug war killings during police operations.

The release of the results of the DOJ review on the 300 cases, however, will depend on the decision of the President Rodrigo Duterte.

Quizzed on this, Roque said that not all results of DOJ review on the police's anti-drug operations which resulted in deaths can be released to the public.

"The DOJ has a synopsis stating that not everything can be released since there are live cases under police and criminal investigation, and that is [a ground for] exception in freedom of information," he added.

Based on police records, at least 7,000 suspects were killed in their anti-drug operations.

Last month, the International Criminal Court (ICC) pre-trial chamber  found reasonable grounds to probe the Duterte administration for alleged crimes against humanity due to systematic killing of citizens in pursuit of a state policy of anti-drug war.

President Duterte has earlier said that he will prepare his defense on possible ICC indictment after he steps down from office on June 30, 2022.—AOL, GMA News