Calida: Petitions vs drug war only 'dampen' government's successes

MANILA, Philippines — Petitions challenging the constitutionality of government memoranda on its bloody drug war would only dampen the "successes" it achieved over its 18 months of implementation, Solicitor General Jose Calida said on Monday.

Should the Supreme Court grant the nullification of the PNP's Oplan Tokhang and DILG's Masa Masid program, the high court would "open the floodgate to any persons hurling groundless accusations against our police officers," Calida said.

This would, in turn, "result in widespread disillusionment and demoralization, preventing them from performing their functions with zeal and dedication," the solicitor general added.

Calida, on Monday, filed a 70-page memorandum asking the high court to drop the two consolidated petitions asking the nullification of the Oplan Tokhang and Masa Masid—two of the government's programs under its campaign against illegal drugs.

This is the first time that Duterte's bloody drug war was brought to the high court. The two groups of petitioners—kin of drug war victims—were represented by Chel Diokno of the Free Legal Assistance Group and Rommel Butuyan of the Center for International Law.

READ: Petitioners ask Supreme Court to halt war on drugs

Calida warns vs abuse on amparo petitions

The solicitor general warned that if the SC grants the relief sought the petitioners, one of which is a writ of amparo or protection, the high court "would only unduly hamper successful government efforts to stop the proliferation of illegal drugs."

A writ of amparo is a remedy the court can grant to any person "whose right to life, liberty and security is violated or threatened with violation by an unlawful act or omission of a public official or employee, or of a private individual or entity."

"By granting the petitions against the war on drugs, a dangerous precedent is created where amparo proceedings will be used as a tool by drug personalities in order to 'fish' for evidence, in the guise of protecting their human rights,” Calida said.

The solicitor general earlier said that the drug war is being "emasculated and undermined" by petitions of the families who lost their loved ones in the violent police operations. They are among the thousands of suspects killed in the drug war.

In the fresh memorandum he filed, Calida only stressed: "The resulting indiscriminate filing of unsubstantiated amparo petitions will render the true essence of the remedy worthless."

Should others aggrieved and seeking protection against authorities for the alleged misuse of power in drug war from our courts—like the two groups of petitioners—it would only "congest court dockets and delay the processing of cases in the courts of justice."

"In the end, [it] defeats the summary nature of an amparo proceeding," Calida added.

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

Petitioners' claim: Imagined

Calida also said that the petitioners' claim of unreasonable searches and seizures is "more imagined than real."

In the Daño petition, filed through the CenterLaw ,residents of San Andres Bukid, Manila claimed that  women and children who were with the victims were dragged out of their homes of the victims before the killings while in some instances, relatives who sought police assistance right after the killings were detained and charged with non-bailable complaints.

Victims who were also killed by police or armed men had also previously submitted themselves to authorities under Oplan Tokhang.

READ: SC petitioners see 'systemic violence' in San Andres Bukid killings

The solicitor general also backed the police's defense than those killed in drug operations, or suspects "na nanlaban" were due to legitimate operations.

"The unfortunate incidents that led to the deaths of suspected drug personalities adverted to by the petitioners as deprivation of life were the result of legitimate police operations which our laws and jurisprudence recognized as a legitimate form of entrapment of persons suspected of being involved in drug dealings," the memorandum read.

"Surely, petitioners cannot expect the police officers to allow lawless elements to place their lives in danger without their resorting to means of protecting themselves," the government chief counsel added.

READ: Calida asks SC to recall order on submission of drug war deaths data

According to the government's latest "Real Numbers" report, there have been 6,309 drug-related deaths from July 1, 2016 to Jan. 17, 2018. The PNP Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management released at the #RealNumbersPH briefing at the Palace on Monday, there have been 2,235 "drug-related incidents or cases" among homicide cases under investigation. Human rights organizations, meanwhile, say that there have been 13,000 deaths under the Duterte administration.

In its 2017 yearend report, the Malacañang hailed its accomplishments in its controversial fight against illegal drugs and criminality—a campaign that has drawn strong criticism from human rights groups all over the world.