Required information should already be SOP for police

On behalf of the petitioners and all family and kin of victims, CenterLaw thanks the Supreme Court for rejecting Solicitor General Jose Calida’s appeal to rescind its Dec. 5, 2017, order requiring the submission of official police reports on the killings of drug suspects during the implementation of “Oplan Tokhang.”

This is an important step in the search for accountability for the extrajudicial killings (EJKs) in the Tokhang operations.

We are fortified by this triumph of the rule of law. The Supreme Court has demonstrated with this initial order that it will perform its role as our people’s beacon and bastion of justice.

We hope that the information that will be gathered from these documents will help not only the families of EJK victims, but more importantly the authorities, to file the necessary cases against those responsible for the killings.

The information the Court requires the Philippine National Police to submit are what it is actually required to produce under the PNP’s own Manual of Operations.

These are no national security documents. These are documents meant to ensure that the PNP’s officers and men faithfully comply with the rules of due process and the human rights of the subjects of their future operations. In fact, these are documents that loved ones of anyone killed during police operations are entitled to have under the PNP’s own rules.

It is in the best interest of the PNP and its top officers to comply with the Court’s order, if only to show that the government is willing and able to prosecute unlawful deaths arising from Tokhang operations.

We hope that this will start the police in doing what it should be doing for each and every crime, regardless of the perpetrators. CenterLaw trusts that this directive by the Supreme Court will help save lives and promote the rights of the Filipino people.

CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL LAW (CenterLaw), PHILIPPINES,