ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider SC asked to resolve 2017 petitions vs 'Oplan Double Barrel'

SC asked to resolve 2017 petitions vs 'Oplan Double Barrel'

Published Jul 3, 2026 03:38 pm
The Supreme Court (SC) was asked on Friday, July 3, to resolve the 2017 petitions that sought to declare unconstitutional the 2016 circulars issued by the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on “Oplan Double Barrel,” the anti-illegal drugs campaign of then president Rodrigo Duterte.
The plea was contained in a manifestation filed by several lawyers led by Joel R. Butuyan and Gilbert T. Andres who also asked the SC to issue a Writ of Amparo, a citizen’s right against threats to life, liberty or security.
They told the SC that after almost 10 years the constitutional and legal challenges against the “war on drugs” remain unresolved.
Thus, they pleaded the SC to finally declare the “war on drugs” executive issuances -- PNP CMC No. 16-2016, as amended by CMC No. 01-2017, and DILG MC No. 2017-112 -- as unconstitutional, invalid, illegal, and unenforceable.
They pointed out that the issuances have never been suspended and “remain a dangerous legal justification for police officers to invoke if they are ever held accountable for future drug war deaths within the Philippine justice system.”
“The unrevoked issuances can still be used by police officers as sources of dubious rules for their operations and invoke them as bases of legal defense in the event of fatality occurrences reminiscent of the drug war years,” they also said.
In 2017, two petitions were filed separately by the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) and Center for International Law (CenterLaw). The SC consolidated the two petitions.
The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) had asked the SC to dismiss the two petitions. The government lawyers said that “Oplan Double Barrel” does not direct the commission of any illegal act and that the “PNP’s function to serve and to protect necessarily encompasses not only responding to crimes already committed but also preventing their commission.”
The residents of 26 barangays (villages) in San Andres Bukid in Manila, led by Sr. Ma. Juanita Daño, a nun of the Religious of the Good Shepherd, and 47 others sought the SC’s issuance of the Writ of Amparo.
In their latest plea, they told the SC that a Writ of Amparo is urgently needed given the larger context that surviving families of those “extra-judicially killed” face dangerous backlash with the sharp rise in systematic disinformation, “fake” news, propaganda, and other forms of harassment brought about by the prosecution of former president Duterte before the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Related Tags

SC Oplan Double Barrel Writ of Amparo
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ static_articles_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.