DRUG WAR CASE | Quezon City court acquits ‘Oplan Tokhang’ survivor of direct assault charges

March 17, 2023 , 10:05 PM

By Clarist Zablan

(March 17, 2023) – A local court in Quezon City has acquitted a survivor of former president Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal anti-drug campaign of charges of direct assault, citing the prosecution’s failure to prove his guilt.

In an 18-page decision, Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court (MeTC) Branch 133 said the prosecution was unable to establish “with moral certainty” that “Oplan Tokhang” survivor Efren Morillo had started shooting at police officers who had accosted them while implementing the anti-drug policy in Payatas.

The court also ruled that the police operatives were not lawfully performing their duties when Morillo allegedly attacked them, because the officers had not complied with established rules in implementing Oplan Tokhang at that time.

“The acquittal of the accused Morillo is in order,” the decision, dated March 3, read. “It is settled that the presumption of innocence of an accused is a fundamental constitutional right that should be upheld at all times.”

Si Morillo ang nag-iisang nakaligtas sa drug operation ng PNP sa Payatas, Quezon City noong August 21, 2016. Dead on the spot ang apat niyang kaibigan, habang nagpanggap naman siyang patay at nakahanap ng tiyempo para maitakbo ang sarili sa ospital. #News5 | via Elaine Fulgencio pic.twitter.com/1ZUx4p6Jqp

— News5 (@News5PH) March 17, 2023

Morillo, a vegetable vendor, was the lone survivor of an anti-drug operation that killed four of his friends, whom police accused of possessing illegal drugs, in Payatas on August 21, 2016. He had narrowly survived a gunshot wound to his chest after playing dead during the incident, and later escaped from the scene.

The police operatives claimed they opened fire only after Morillo and his companions resisted arrest and started shooting at them. But Morillo, noting he had only traveled to Payatas to collect a debt from his friend who was killed in the incident, maintained he was innocent.

CenterLaw, a group of human rights lawyers, welcomed the decision, which they described as “proof that truth will prevail and lives on.”

“The decision is a beacon of light for those whose hopes have been dimmed and distorted by the pro forma, lawless, and soulless ‘Nanlaban’ narrative,” CenterLaw said in a statement.

Morillo and his family sought protection through a petition for writ of amparo before the Supreme Court in January 2017, which the Court of Appeals granted two weeks later.

He also filed charges of murder, frustrated murder, robbery, and planting of drugs and firearms against four police officers before the Office of the Ombudsman in March 2017 over the incident. The case remains pending, the group said.

“In light of this judicial finding, Mr. Morillo believes that his case before the Ombudsman should soon be resolved in his favor,” CenterLaw said. “With victims’ families steadfast and relentless in the pursuit of justice, Mr. Morillo – the one who lived – continues his call for accountability against his perpetrators and other perpetrators of the Drug War.”

(MM | With reports from Elaine Fulgencio, News5)

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