Palace: Confidentiality of info on drug war killings only for ongoing probes

Confidentiality of records on drug war killings during police operations cover only cases currently being investigated, Malacanang said.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque issued the clarification after President Rodrigo Duterte said that the government cannot divulge information related to security forces' anti-drug and anti-insurgency operations, saying these are confidential in nature.

"I think ang tinutukoy ni Presidente talaga ay iyong mga live investigations. Pero kung tapos na po iyong imbestigasyon and it is after the fact...nagkakaroon na lang talaga tayo ng implementasyon," Roque said.

(The President was referring to active investigations. But if the investigation is over and after the fact, then we can implement it.)

"Mayroon talaga tayong manual na sinusunod ng PNP na sa kada mayroong namamatay, dapat nagkakaroon talaga ng imbestigasyon. So iyon lang naman ang ginagawa ngayon ng PNP at DOJ. Napakatagal na po niyan na nasa manual ng PNP, pinapatupad lang po nila iyan," Roque pointed out.

(The PNP has a manual which states that for every death during operations, an investigation is needed. That's just what the Department of Justice and the PNP are following.)

"May mga sensitibong bagay na kapag isinapubliko will affect the ongoing investigation itself. Pero kapag mayroon na pong sapat na ebidensiya at nagtuturo na may isang personalidad ay talagang isang drug lord, hindi naman po makakaapekto sa imbestigasyon iyon," Roque added.

(There are sensitive information which if made public, will affect the ongoing investigation. But if there is enough evidence to identify that an individual is a drug lord, disclosure won't affect the investigation.)—LDF, GMA News