Press Release
January 13, 2018

Dispatch from Crame No. 221
Sen. Leila M. de Lima's statement on Solicitor General Calida reneging on his commitment to give drug war records to SC

1 / 13 / 18

Just like his master Duterte, Solicitor General Jose Calida has no word of honor.

On Dec. 5 last year, during the Supreme Court's hearings on the petitions against the legality of the war on drugs, the State's lawyer agreed to turn over and give official reports and other relevant documents related to the death of around 4,000 drug suspects during police operations.

One month later, he reneged on his commitment citing that government compliance would endanger national security and the success of future operations.

Malinaw na COVER-UP ito dahil pag nabunyag ang mga investigation records na yan, mako-confirm ang matagal na nating hinala na karamihan sa mga napatay na drug suspects ay hindi nanlaban.

Besides, national security is a lame excuse to defy the order of the Supreme Court. No national security is involved in ascertaining the legitimacy of these police operations; particularly in light of the magnitude and pervasiveness of the killings. Lalo na ngayon, magreresume na naman ang 'Oplan Tokhang' at 'Double Barrel'.

Some SC Justices, such as J. Carpio, were asking the right questions--tough and searching questions--in the course of the oral arguments. The answers to some of those questions may, or will surely, be found in the reports which the Solgen has committed to produce.

I've seen some of the SOCO and after-incident reports as part of PNP's initial compliance when I was still Chair of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights which was then looking into the spate of killings. And in my Dissenting Report to the Gordon/majority Committee Report, I took note of certain entries in a random sampling of SOCO reports that bear telltale signs of summary execution, and accordingly pushed for a closer scrutiny of said reports, but to no avail.

Calida, in justifying his refusal to divulge these investigation reports also claimed that the 1987 Constitution mandated that the people's right to information should be "limited to matters of public concern."

Simple lang po ang tanong ko, Solgen, hindi po ba 'public concern' ang pagpatay sa libo-libong mga Pilipino lalo na kung mapatunayang labag sa batas at 'due process' ang kanilang pagkamatay?

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