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'It's confidential': Duterte denies full access to gov't's drug war records
'It's confidential': Duterte denies full access to gov't's drug war records
The government cannot divulge all information related to its war on illegal drugs and anti-communist insurgency operations in the country, President Duterte said Monday, May 31.
In his prerecorded briefing, Duterte stressed that human rights groups can’t be given full access to the records of deaths of drug suspects and communist rebels like the New People’s Army (NPA) due to national security issues.
This should be lesson for the human rights groups that deaths in this kind of operations cannot be avoided, he said.
“I suggest that you go to the police and look into the records of these deaths. Now gusto ninyong kunin, may (you want to get them, there is)—hindi namin maibigay lahat (we can’t give you everything) not because we are hiding some facts that known to us, unknown to you,” Duterte said.
“Eh kasali na dito ‘yong—eh national security issue ‘to eh kagaya rin ng mga NPA (But national security issues are part of this like those of the NPA). We have records that those who have died but who have derogatory records in our files and may mga (they have) references sila na tao (from people) and what they do, we cannot divulge it to anybody but only to the military and to the police,” he added.
The Chief Executive made the remark despite the willingness of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to share information about the drug-related killings in the country.
Last week, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the PNP agreed to open 61 investigation cases where its Internal Affairs Service (IAS) has already found liability on the part of law enforcers.
The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has long wanted to access these files, but PNP chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said it is up to the DOJ if it wants to share the documents with the commission.
During Duterte’s taped public address aired Monday night, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año presented the data showing deaths still occurred in security forces’ anti-drug and anti-insurgency operations.
The President said the records of deaths in the drug war and anti-insurgency operations are “confidential,” noting that he himself is not aware of.
“I do not even know kung sino ‘yang mga ‘yan (who are those). I do not ask it and I do not bother to really go out of my way knowing because kasali ako sa mga tao na hindi alam (I’m part of the people who don’t know about it). What I get is the result of the operations. But as to the basis and to the people involved and suspects and ‘yong mga references nila at ‘yong mga sources ng information, this cannot be revealed,” he explained.
Duterte told the CHR to be careful in its assessment on the drug-related killings and deaths of communist rebels, citing that the NPA and drug lords also know how to kill.
“So iyan ang tandaan ninyo. It’s not pinatay namin ‘yong lahat ng mga masasamang tao. Eh ‘yong mabubuting tao, ‘yong mga sundalo ko nagtatrabaho lang, pulis, patay rin ‘yan sila (So you remember that. It’s not that we killed the bad people. But how about the good ones, the soldiers and policemen who are working, they also get killed)—and in numbers,” he said.