OSG head Jose Calida is a respondent to the petition. (CNP)

The Center for International Law (Centerlaw) on Monday asked the Supreme Court to cite the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) in contempt of court for submitting “rubbish” documents in connection with the deaths in the government’s anti-drug campaign.

Atty. Joel Butuyan of Centerlaw claimed that the OSG and PNP have defied the SC three times on the latter’s order to release the documents with respect to the total of 20,322 drug-related deaths which the government itself claimed as accomplishment for the period from 1 July 2016 to 27 November 2017.

Centerlaw has asked for documents in connection with its petition filed in 2017 before the SC seeking the issuance of a writ of amparo to protect the residents of 26 barangays in San Andres Bukid, Manila against the government’s anti-illegal drug war.

A petition was also filed by the Free Legal Assistance Group with the SC then asking the justices to declare as unconstitutional the PNP’s “Oplan Double Barrel,” which it said allows the police to “neutralize” suspected drug pushers instead of arresting and prosecuting them. The SC consolidated the two petitions.

“What the OSG and PNP virtually want is for the Supreme Court and the petitioners to utterly waste valuable time and resources examining case files which are totally irrelevant and, in fact, absolutely rubbish insofar as the instant cases are concerned,” the motion of Centerlaw read.

“For the Petitioners to be made to labor through a full examination of the complete files submitted by the OSG and PNP – even after a considerable sampling of the same has yielded the above-discussed results – will virtually allow the OSG and PNP to succeed in their underhanded machinations,” it added.

The petitioners asked the SC to direct anew the OSG and PNP to submit the correct and complete documents on the 3,967 drug personalities who died in anti-drug operations from 1 July 2016 to 27 November 2017 and 16,355 homicide cases under investigation from 1 July 2016 to 27 September 2017.

Earlier, the SC directed the OSG, which acts as counsel for the PNP, to submit before it and give copies to the petitioners documents pertaining to the ongoing anti-illegal drug war of the Duterte administration.

Petioners are asking the documents of the list of persons killed in legitimate police operations from 1 July 2016 to 30 November 2017, list of deaths under investigation from 1 July 2016 to 30 November 2017, list of Chinese and Filipino-Chinese drug lords who have been neutralized, list of drugs involved whether shabu, cocaine, marijuana, opioids, etc., comparative tables in index crimes, statistics of internal cleansing within the police force and drug watchlists in affected areas.

The OSG was also directed by the SC to submit the list of warrants and warrantless arrests in High Value Target police operations and the list of cases under investigation under the PNP Internal Affairs Service.

The SC ruled that the documents required do not compromise national security contrary to Calida’s arguments, and that the information and documents do not involve rebellion, invasion, terrorism, espionage, infringement of our sovereignty or sovereign rights by foreign powers, or any military, diplomatic or state secret.

The Centerlaw claimed in its petition that the OSG and PNP furnished the petitions 289 compact discs (CDs/DVDs) in what they represented to be their full compliance with orders of the SC. It said when an examination of an ample sampling of the files contained in the CDs/DVDs was made, “it became clear that an overwhelming number of the death incidents submitted are non-drug related cases.”

Also, it said a total of 1,792 death files have been inspected by the Center so far, consisting of 801 “solved” cases and 991 “unsolved” cases. Out of the 801 considered solved cases, 90. 1 percent are not drug-related while out of the 991 unsolved cases, 55.80 percent are not drug related.

The petitioners said only 9.99 percent of the solved cases are ‘possibly drug-related’ and only 44.20 percent of the unsolved cases are ‘possibly drug-related’ deaths.

The cases which are not drug-related include incidents of stabbing, mauling, hacking, shooting, and other incidents involving private affairs among citizens.