First case filed vs. ‘Tokhang’

A survivor of an alleged Philippine police raid that killed four other drug suspects has asked the Supreme Court to stop such operations and help him obtain police records to prove his innocence in a test case against President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s bloody crackdown.

Lawyer Romel Bagares says his client Efren Morillo, a survivor of the August police raid in Payatas village in Metro Manila, and other petitioners also asked the court to order police to stop threatening witnesses.

Bagares said four policemen shot Morillo and four other men whom they accused of being drug pushers.

Morillo survived and denied police allegations that he and his friends were drug dealers or that they fought back during the raid.

Aside from Efren Morillo, others who filed a Writ of Amparo petition were Martin Morillo, Victoria Morillo, Ma. Belen Daa, Marla Daa, Maribeth Bartolay, Lydia Gabo, Jennifer Nicolas and Marilyn Malimbad. A writ of amparo is a remedy available to any person whose right to life, liberty, security is violated or threatened.

The petitioners urged the High Court to stop the Philippine National Police from entering within a radius of five kilometers of their residences and work addresses.

They also sought the issuance of a temporary restraining order on the implementation of Oplan Tokhang in Area B, Barangay Payatas and areas under the jurisdiction of Quezon City Police District Station 6.

Oplan Tokhang, coined from the Cebuano words “toktok” (knock) and “hangyo” ( beg), is the law enforcement campaign against illegal drugs.