MANILA — The Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) will provide the International Criminal Court (ICC) with the government’s data on the Duterte administration’s campaign against illegal drugs if the request gets nod from “higher office,” Chief Supt. John Bulalacao said.
In a #RealNumbers press conference Tuesday, Bulalacao said the approval should come from Malacanang and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
“On the part of the PNP, we will (comply), provided there will be an approval from the higher office,” Bulalacao said when pressed on whether PNP will give its drug war data to ICC.
Bulalacao said processes should be observed if the ICC will request for the government’s “real numbers” on its anti-narcotics campaign.
Derrick Carreon, chief of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Public Information Office, said they will do the same if given “green light” by Malacanang.
According to media reports, ICC plans to pursue its probe on the alleged violations of human rights on the government’s drug war despite President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s decision to withdraw “effective immediately” the Philippines’ ratification of the Rome Statute which created the ICC.
Palace officials had insisted that the international court has no jurisdiction over Duterte, saying the court’s principle of complementarity provides that it can only conduct a probe if local courts were unable or unwilling to do so.
Duterte had described as “brazen ignorance of the law” the ICC’s attempt to conduct a preliminary examination on alleged extrajudicial killings linked to his war on drugs.
Contrary to human rights groups’ data of 7,000 deaths, the PDEA and PNP on Tuesday reported that drug personalities who died in anti-drug operations have reached only 4,075 as of March 20 this year.
According to government data, PDEA and PNP have conducted 91,704 anti-drug operations, resulting in the arrest of 124,648 drug suspects including 225 government employees, 199 elected officials and 45 uniformed personnel.
Meanwhile, the government said a total of 46,014 drug-related cases have been filed in court with half of them for prosecutor’s resolution.
Bulalacao said out of 2,467 drug-related homicide cases, 715 have been resolved while 1,752 are still under investigation.
For his part, Carreon said a total of 189 dens and clandestine laboratories have been dismantled while 649 minors have been rescued from July 1, 2016 to March 20, 2018.
Carreon said the total amount of drugs, controlled precursors and essential chemicals and confiscated laboratory equipment have now reached PHP19.67 billion pesos.
Bulalacao said the PNP and PDEA continue to sustain the momentum of the war on drugs by focusing on the reduction of supply and demand of illegal drugs. (PNA)
