Lawyer likens drug war regime to Nazi rule in Germany

Jose Manuel Diokno, chairman of the Free Legal Assistance Group (Photo from his Facebook account)

The practice of compiling names of drug suspects under the Duetere administration is “very similar” to what the Nazis did to Jews in Germany, arbitrarily arresting them and putting them in concentration camps.

That was how human rights lawyer Jose Manuel Diokno, chairman of the Free Legal Assistance Group (Flag) described the current situation in the Philippines as he assailed the constitutionality of the policy adopted by the Philippine National Police (PNP) in implementing President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs.

Specifically, flag was questioning the legality of the PNP Command Memorandum Circular (CMC) 16-2016, which created Project Double Barrel, the blueprint of the deadly drug war, before the Supreme Court.

“That is why we are questioning the PNP circular – because ang nangyari po nabago na yang function na yan. Ang ginagawa na ngayon ng pulis hindi na sila taga-kuha ng ebidensya kundi taga-compile ng pangalan,” Diokno said in a press conference on Wednesday.

[That is why we are questioning the PNP circular – because what’s happening now is the function of the police has changed. What the police are doing now is they’re no longer gathering evidence but compiling names.)

Diokno said there was a “huge difference” between compiling names and gathering evidence for crimes.

“Any person in our country, any citizen – kahit wala siyang ginagawa, kahit completely innocent siya [though he has done nothing, though he may be completely innocent] – his or her name could come out in any watchlist because the war on drugs as operationalized by the circular does not require evidence, it simply requires names,” he said.

“Very much similar to what happened during the Japanese occupation done by the Japanese police and during the Nazi occupation of Germany years ago,” he added.

Flag also assailed the Mamamayang Ayaw sa Anomalya, Mamamayang Ayaw sa Iligal na Droga (Masa Masid) of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) , which Diokno said had institutionalized the anti-illegal drug campaign.

The directive orders all barangays in the country to install drop boxes through which anyone can report and write down names of suspected drug criminals for verification by authorities.

/atm