Petitioners ask SC to allow access to government drug war documents

MANILA, Philippines — The government cannot cite national security to block access to documents on anti-narcotics operations when the Supreme Court has long held that the papers only involve “routine police reports,” petitioners in the historic challenge to President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war said.

Lawyers from Center for International Law (CenterLaw) on Wednesday asked the high court to allow them to copy the Office of the Solicitor General’s submission of the government's voluminous records on the law enforcement operations as the documents “involve public concern and interest.”

The SC’s order for the government to submit its drug war documents gained finality in April 2018 when it denied Solicitor General Jose Calida’s motion for reconsideration, but CenterLaw said they were not furnished copies of them. The papers will be among the bases of the court's pending ruling on their petition.

They raised that while Calida “submitted copies of the subject documents to the Honorable Court, they have failed to furnish copies of complete documents to the Petitioners.”

This is a "violation of due process long embedded in the jurisprudence," CenterLaw said.

RELATED: Calida: Petitions vs drug war meant 'to destablize Duterte gov't'

National security? SC already ruled on that

The government’s action, the petitioners also argued, “complete re-litigate” a matter that the SC has already decided on.

To recall, the SC held three days of oral arguments with CenterLaw and the Free Legal Assistance Group, who both represent kin of drug war victims. As the court wrapped up its oral arguments, Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio ordered Calida to submit government records on the thousands of drug war-related deaths under investigation by the PNP.

READ: Highlights from the Supreme Court oral arguments on the drug war

The SC also ordered Calida to submit the following documents:

• 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, opoids, etc.
• comparative tables on index crimes
• statistics of internal cleansing within the police force
• drug watchlist in the affected areas
• list of warrants and warrantless arrests in [high-value target] police operations
• list of cases under investigation under Internal Affairs Service

Calida did not oppose the order during the court session, but later filed an appeal, claiming the records “have undeniable effect on national security.”

RELATED: Government to comply with order on drug war

The SC rejected Calida’s argument in a strongly-worded 52-page resolution on April 2018. It said then that the government's continued resistance to submitting the records "will lead this Court to presume that these information and documents, because they are wilfully suppressed, will be adverse to the OSG’s case."

It also said that it would be "the height of absurdity" to allow Calida’s refusal to submit the documents.

READ: Data on drug war deaths being willfully suppressed? The SC thinks so

CenterLaw reiterated the court’s ruling in their recent pleading.

Quoting the SC, they stressed that drug war documents “do not obviously 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 petitioners added.

The International Criminal Court is also looking into several communications alleging crimes against humanity against Duterte administration over the thousands of deaths under its brutal crackdown on drugs.