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Tag: Duterte drug war

‘Ridiculous,’ SC says on drug war records as ‘national security’

Published by Ellen on June 6, 2021

Several times, President Rodrigo Duterte has proudly taken responsibility for the killings in his bloody campaign against illegal drugs. It goes without saying, therefore, that the prosecution of the drug-related killings would have to reach his level.

If he thinks that citing “national security” will save him and the top officials who implemented his war on drugs, including his first police chief, now Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, from being accountable for all those killings, he is wrong.

The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) already used that line in the 2018 case of Aileen Almora, et al. Vs. Director General Ronald Dela Rosa, et al./Sr. Ma. Juanita R. Daño, et al. Vs. The Philippine National Police, et al. and the Supreme Court vehemently rejected it.
The Supreme Court’s words: “It is simply ridiculous to claim that these information and documents on police operations against drug pushers and users involve national security matter.”

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Why does DOJ need PNP consent to probe cops in drug war?

Published by Ellen on May 30, 2021

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra is very grateful and called it a “very significant milestone” because it “did not happen in previous years.”

This is no different from President Duterte thanking China for allowing Filipino fishermen to fish in the area of Scarborough Shoal, a Philippine territory. But that’s another topic that requires a separate discussion.

This so-called “very significant milestone” came after a meeting with newly installed PNP chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar who said this is being done to dispel allegations that they are hiding facts on the killings from the public to protect the law enforcers involved in carrying out Duterte’s brutal banner program that has elicited international concern and condemnation.

No one is biting the bait, especially the families of the victims and their lawyers.

Continue readingWhy does DOJ need PNP consent to probe cops in drug war?

Malacañang’s incoherent statement on ICC’s continuing probe

Published by Ellen on December 7, 2018

The one thing that spooks President Duterte fiercely is the case of crime against humanity brought against him before the International Criminal Court in The Hague which gave him the dubious distinction of being the first Southeast Asian leader to be charged before the ICC.

Rare is his public speaking engagements that he does not take a jab at ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda who announced last Feb. 8 that she has started a preliminary examination of the information filed in connection with the extrajudicial killings under the Duterte presidency.

ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda

And when Duterte is agitated, he spews out fake news. That has rubbed on his Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo who immediately issued an incoherent statement last Thursday denouncing the decision of Bensouda to continue assessing the information filed with her office against Duterte.

Continue readingMalacañang’s incoherent statement on ICC’s continuing probe