Media release
On behalf of the petitioners and all family and kin of extrajudicial killings victims, Centerlaw thanks the Supreme Court for this important step in the search for accountability for the killings 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 High Court requires the Philippine National Police (PNP) to submit are what they are 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 High 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.
https://www.rappler.com/nation/199457-supreme-court-compels-government-tokhang-documentation
http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/03/18/sc-presses-government-to-submit-reports-on-drug-war-killings
