Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, with only six months more at the agency’s helm, said Sunday one of their highest concerns was the government’s focus on the drug war campaign launched by the administration in 2016.
Guevara, appointed to his post in April 2018 by President Rodrigo Duterte, said the National Bureau of Investigation was expected to submit soon to the Department of Justice its initial report on its probe of the 52 police drug war cases that resulted in death.
“As to the status of the drug war review, the NBI will submit in a few days an initial report on the 52 Philippine National Police-Internal Affairs Service cases that the DOJ endorsed to the NBI for case build-up,” he said.
“Meanwhile, prosecution offices in NBI the various regions are coordinating with the PNP-IAS in these regions for the examination of thousands of other administrative disciplinary cases against police officers involved in anti-narcotics operations,” he added.
In the DOJ-led drug war review panel’s initial report that they submitted to the President last September, it took note that some of the information was missing, including detailed narration that transpired during the police operation and the cause of death.
There were also instances where there was no pre-operation report, no coordination form, no custody form, ballistics or paraffin test results, or autopsy result on record, no cross-matching of the weapon that was allegedly recovered from the subject; and no scene of the crime operation (SOCO) report.
The DOJ also found out that in some of the paraffin tests, both hands of the suspect-victim were negative for gunpowder nitrates.
This prompted the DOJ to direct the NBI last October to build up cases arising from the 52 PNP drug war operations, suspected to be of extra-judicial killings, and where the 154 policemen involved in these operations were already found by the PNP-IAS to have administrative liabilities.
The NBI was tasked to cross check information and conduct further investigation to determine if there was criminal liability.
According to Guevarra, in his remaining months at the DOJ, he would also prioritize the implementation of the Philippines-United Nation (UN) joint program on the protection and promotion of human rights.
The DOJ would also intensify its campaign against corruption, Guevarra said.