The Philippine National Police (PNP) will seek first the advice of the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) before complying with the Supreme Court’s (SC) order to submit investigation reports on the killing of thousands of suspects under President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs, its spokesperson said on Wednesday.
PNP spokesperson Chief Supt. John Bulalacao also maintained that the brutal crackdown is legal and constitutional.
“The PNP respects the Resolution of the Supreme Court but will take the legal recommendation of the Solicitor General on the matter,” Bulalacao said in a statement.
“We assure the public that our campaign against illegal drugs is constitutional, legal and is implemented in the interest of public safety,” he added.
Voting unanimously, 12 SC justices junked Solicitor General Jose Calida’s appeal to rescind its Dec. 5, 2017, order requiring the submission of the official PNP reports on the killings of drug suspects during the implementation of “Oplan Tokhang” from July 1, 2016 to Nov. 30, 2017.
The High Court ordered the PNP to submit the required reports within 15 days upon receipt of the resolution.
“[T]he court denied [Calida’s] motion for reconsideration of the court’s order … and directed [the] respondents to comply with the said order by submitting the required reports within a period of 15 days from notice,” the SC said in a statement.
READ: SC presses PNP to submit ‘Tokhang’ reports
Early this year, PNP chief Dir. Gen. Ronald Dela Rosa said the release of any information related to the police’s anti-drug operations would endanger the lives of police officers and their families.
“’Yung pagdisclose ng pangalan sa operations pwede ma-endanger ang buhay mo at buhay ng pamilya mo dahil napakalaking sindikato ang tinitira mo,” Dela Rosa said.
“Once you give it, anybody can access the information,” he added. “Kawawa naman yung mga pulis natin nagtatrabaho at sinusuong buhay nila sa panganib.”
READ: Releasing info on drug war could endanger cops, relatives /muf