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Study: Gov't circulars

on 'drug war' affect
constitutional rights
By Kristine Joy Patag (Philstar.com) -
April 26, 2019 - 4:15pm

! "

A Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency agent

secures part of a street holding residents
temporarily during a drug raid in Maharlika
Village, Taguig, south of Manila on Feb. 28,
2018. The drug raid was conducted to arrest
five drug dealers, but only two were captured.
President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs has
left nearly 4,000 drug suspects dead and seen
human rights groups claim he was responsible
for a crime against humanity. The anti-drugs
campaign enjoys popular support while the
fiery-tongued Duterte has rejected any
criticism of his human rights record.
AFP/Noel Celis

MANILA, Philippines — The

administration’s ruthless “drug war,”
enforced through the police’s Oplan
Tokhang, risks violation of at least eight
citizen’s rights enshrined in our
Constitution, a study showed.

On Friday, the Ateneo Human Rights

Center presented its study on the legal
framework of President Rodrigo Duterte’s
“drug war,” a petition challenging its
legality pending before the Supreme
Court.

The search looked into the Philippine

National Police Command Memorandum
Circular No. 16-2016 or Project “Double
Barrel,” a two-prong approach for the drug
war: Oplan HVT (High-Value Targets) and
Oplan Tokhang.

“However, enforcement and

implementation have brought up a lot of
questions and even accusations of basic
human rights,” it added.

The following rights, enshrined in our

Constitution, were affected and made
vulnerable by the policies on drug war:

Right to Due Process

Right to Equal Protection of the Laws
Right to Unwarranted Searches and
Warrantless arrest/Arrest without Cause
Right against Self-Incrimination
Right to Counsel
Right to Presumption of Innocence
Right to Information
Right to Health

READ: Justices ask: Did Oplan Tokhang,

Masa Masid violate any law?

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Tokhang
The term Tokhang is derived from the
combination of Visayan words “toktok” (to
knock) and “hangyo” (to plead). In the
government program, the police conduct
house to house visitations to persuade
“illegal drug personalities to stop their
illegal drug activities.

Oplan Tokhang, AHRC said, affects a

citizen’s right to due process, right
guaranteed for those under custodial
investigation and right to unreasonable
searches and warrantless arrest/arrest.

EXPLAINER: Why is the writ of habeas

corpus important?

The group said that the circular did not

state who exactly can be visited and
persuaded.

vivo V25e
vivo Philippines

Rights groups raised that Oplan Tokhang

targets the poor community, a point that
was raised by Senior Associate Justice
Antonio Carpio during the SC's oral
arguments on the constitutionality of
the drug war.

The senior justice further grilled Solicitor

General Jose Calida, who was defending
the government: "Can you explain why
PNP, in this circular, is concentrating on
street-level operations and is practically
ignoring the big time drug lords?"

Carpio stressed: "How come the flagship

project of the president is concentrated in
going after small-time peddlers? Why not
big-time drug lords?"

READ: Carpio asks: Were there Chinese

drug lords killed by the PNP?

The research showed that other activities

that are outside the letter of the
memorandum circular include on the spot
testing and extracting confessions without
legal counsels present.

It noted that, during the conduct of Oplan

Tokhang, subjects “were persuaded in
assorted ways that flirt with dangers
sought to be prevented by
constitutionally-guaranteed rights of those
under custodial investigation, including the
right to counsel.”

vivo V25e
vivo Philippines

“Tokhang is conducted by police officers

without the need of a search or arrest
warrant or to complete a case-build up
required under the PNP Manual before
anti-illegal drugs operations can be
executed. What the PNP Circular merely
requires prior to the house visit of the
‘collection and validation’ of information
and proof on suspected illegal drug
personalities,” it added.

Voluntary surrender
The research also looked into the
“voluntary surrender” in the police
program, that it said, affect the citizen’s
right to due process, right to presumption
of innocence, right against self-
incrimination and right to privacy.

A subject of a Tokhang operation is

“persuaded” by the police to execute an
affidavit on either being a pusher or user of
drugs, the study showed.

Those who surrender also sign a waiver

that allows the state to take urine samples,
take photos, fingerprints, information and
conduct physical/mental examinations.
The authorities can “utilize the result... for
any legal purpose that it may serve.”

This, in turn, translates to the waiving of

the right against an unreasonable search
and right to privacy, the research said.

The group also pointed out that the

template affidavit under the 1st Dangerous
Drugs Board that contains “multiple
admissions of guilt” and contains a text
suggesting voluntary confession as part of
the protocol.

"Both affidavit and voluntary confession

may even be used as evidence against a
surrenderer in the event charges are filed
against him/her in the future," they said.

Supreme Court petitions

In 2017, two groups of petitioners asked
the SC to halt the implementation of
Duterte’s drug war. Their pleas are
centered on killings in the San Andres
Bukid district of Manila and in Baguio.

The high court had recently reiterated its

order to the Office of the Solicitor General
to give the petitioners a copy of the
voluminous drug war records and
investigation of the thousands of deaths
during police operations.

In another strongly worded resolution, the

high court told Solicitor General Jose
Calida, the government's chief legal
counsel: “The undeniable fact that
thousands of ordinary citizens have been
killed, and continue to be killed, during
police drug operations certainly is a matter
of grave public concern.”

READ: SC tells Calida: Thousands of

deaths in drug war of 'grave' public
concern

vivo V25e
vivo Philippines

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