Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Monday said the initial report of the inter-agency panel tasked to review the anti-drug police operations had just been submitted to the Office of the President.
“Let’s give him (President Rodrigo Duterte) time to pore over it,” Guevarra said in a text message to reporters.
While he declined to give details of the initial report, Guevarra assured the review panel came out with what he described as “very encouraging leads.”
“We have encouraging pieces of evidence. Believe me, believe me, you can see here if there were lapses in the first,” the Justice Secretary said.
Guevarra refused to categorically say whether there were drug enforcers who would be criminally charged. “It’s too presumptuous to say,” he said.
“For us, we want to know what is really true? If there were violations committed, who are the offenders, who are the perpetrators who committed the violations, and what they have violated. How did they commit it? What supporting evidence do we have?” Guevarra said.
“The initial report is only a partial one. Our efforts have been severely hampered by current restrictions on mobility and physical access to records. Much collaborative work remains to be done,” Guevarra said when asked whether the Commission on Human Rights would be included in the drug war full panel report.
The panel tasked to review the anti-drug police operations was supposed to come up with its initial report last December.
The DOJ leads the review panel of several government agencies, including law enforcement units, in reviewing 5,655 anti-drug operations that resulted in deaths to determine whether to file charges against the police officers involved.
“We intend to engage with the CHR in this endeavor. As I said, the initial report is only a partial one,” Guevarra stressed.
“Our efforts have been severely hampered by current restrictions on mobility and physical access to records. Much collaborative work remains to be done,” he said.
Guevarra announced the formation of the panel weeks after the UN human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, released a report finding "near impunity" for alleged extrajudicial killings committed in the Philippines.
Guevarra said the panel may be able to come out with an initial or partial report of its findings by December 2020.
Besides the DOJ, the Presidential Communications Operations Office, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Presidential Human Rights Committee Secretariat, the Presidential Management Staff, the Dangerous Drugs Board, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, the Philippine National Police, and the National Bureau of Investigation are part of the panel.
