THE Supreme Court has ruled that the submission by the police of information and documents pertaining to the government’s war on drugs will not compromise national security, contrary to the claim of the Office of the Solicitor General.
In an en banc resolution, the Court denied the motion for reconsideration of the Philippine National Police through Solicitor General Jose Calida to overturn its earlier decision compelling the authorities to submit documents pertinent to the anti-drug campaign.
The Court said that it would be ridiculous for the Solicitor General to claim that the documents contain information so sensitive that even the magistrates could not 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 information and documents relate to routine police operations involving violations 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,” the Court ruled.
It added that the information and documents being sought do not involve rebellion, invasion, terrorism, espionage, infringement of our sovereignty or sovereign rights by foreign powers, or any military, diplomatic or state 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 Court said.
The Court sustained its earlier decision directing the solicitor general to submit the records and documents related to the government’s anti-drug campaign within 15 days of the receipt of notice.
In its order issued in December 2017, the Court ordered Calida to submit within 60 days documents including the list of persons killed in legitimate police operations from July 1, 2016 to Nov. 30, 2017, list of deaths under investigation from July 1, 2016 to Nov. 30, 2017, list of Chinese and Filipino-Chinese drug lords who have been neutralized, list of drugs involved whether shabu, cocaine, marijuana, opioids, etc., comparative tables in index crimes, statistics of internal cleansing within the police force and drug watchlists in affected areas.
The OSG was also required to submit the list of warrants and warrantless arrests in high value garget police operations and the list of cases under investigation under the PNP Internal Affairs Service.
Calida filed a motion for reconsideration, citing the risk to national security and saying this would put at risk the lives of informants in the anti-drug campaign.
In ruling against the government’s appeal, the Court said although it is not a trier of facts it would like to determine for itself, through the existence of the requested information and documents, whether the conduct of operations was indeed done in the performance of official functions.
In the same resolution, the Court said it has also taken judicial notice of the yearend report of the Duterte administration, which supposedly branded as “accomplishments” drug-related deaths.
“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,” it said.
The said yearend report states that there were “3,967 drug personalities who died in anti-drug operations (from) July 1, 2016 to Nov. 27, 2017,” and “16,355 homicide cases under Investigation (from) July 1, 2016 to Sept. 27, 2017” or a total of 20,322 deaths during the Duterte administration’s anti-drug war from July 1, 2016 to November 27, 2017, or an average of 39.46 deaths every day.
Aside from these numbers and allegations, the Court said there is nothing else to substantiate Calida’s claim of legitimate police operations.
It also said the PNP cannot claim the presumption of regularity in official functions because deaths are not supposed to occur during any of their operations.
The Court warned that the continued refusal of the OSG to submit the information and documents “will lead it (SC) to presume that the… information and documents, because they are willfully suppressed, will be adverse to the OSG’s case.”