Philippine court halts govt move to keep drug war kill records secret

The order covers drug-related deaths from July 2016 until November 2017
Reuters (UK)
Tuesday, April 3, 2018

The Philippine Supreme Court ordered police to hand over full records of thousands of deadly encounters in the country’s war on drugs, thwarting a government bid to keep operational details of the bloody crackdown secret. The high court gave the solicitor-general, Jose Calida, 15 days to comply with a December order that he had challenged on the grounds of national security. Human rights and legal groups lauded the decision as a triumph that would help bring to book state officials involved in what they say are systematic abuses, cover-ups and executions during President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody 21-month campaign.