JUSTICE Secretary Menardo Guevarra assured on Tuesday he would take into consideration all aspects of national security concerns in the review of Philippine National Police’s (PNP) anti-illegal drug operations where deaths occurred.
Guevarra made the assurance when sought to comment on President Duterte’s concern about divulging matters of national security in the release of the drug war records of the PNP in his televised address on Monday.
Duterte said his government cannot release all records from the controversial anti-drug war for scrutiny since it would compromise national security.
“I actually did not hear it exactly how he said it but my understanding of what the President has been meaning is in the light of the ongoing cooperation between the DOJ and the PNP, a proper concern should be given to security matters. In other words, not necessarily related to the review of these case files, it is not necessarily the one that the President is referring to,” Guevarra said in an online news briefing with Interior Secretary Eduardo Año and PNP Chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar after the signing of the joint memorandum circular on violations of health quarantine protocols amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said the 61 cases that the DOJ would be reviewing “are more of a criminal in nature than a national security concern.”
When reminded about the 2018 Supreme Court resolution penned by then Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio ordering the government to yield its
records on deaths related to the drug war amid the petitions against the constitutionality of the “Oplan Tokhang,” Guevarra agreed to be more careful in examining these drug cases.
“Yes, there was a SC declaration already but we will play it by the ear. We will be more careful when the DOJ and the PNP examine all these records. We will make it a point to determine if there are national security concerns involved in each case, and if there are none, then we will do so in accordance with our mandate. But we will take note of the President’s concerns as we examine each and every case,” Guevarra said.
Earlier, the PNP agreed to give the DOJ access to its records pertaining to 61 drug operations where deaths occurred.
However, the PNP has yet to transmit the 61 cases to the DOJ.
“The transmission of the case files pertaining to 61 incidents where deaths occurred is still in process. We have not actually seen the case files, but maybe in a few days, these will be delivered to the DOJ and we will find out what exactly the contents of the case files are,” he said.
The justice chief said that when the case files arrive, the DOJ will examine the circumstances surrounding the incidents covered by the 61 cases and determine also, if based on the circumstances, there is criminal liability on the part of the police officers involved.
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