After stepping down from the presidency in 2022, former president Rodrigo Duterte ceased to be within the public eye for years.
However when he appeared within the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee’s listening to on October 28, Duterte made certain he placed on full show his strongman character that enamored his diehard supporters. When requested about his drug warfare, the previous president even boasted that he would take all of the blame for the killings made by the police upon his directions.
“I and I alone take full obligation. For all of the cops have completed pursuant to my order, I’ll take duty. I must be the one jailed, not the cops who solely adopted my orders. I pity them, they had been solely working,” Duterte mentioned in a mixture of Filipino and English.
The previous chief government confirmed no regret for his warfare that killed not less than 30,000 folks, based on human rights teams. The 79-year-old Duterte even dared folks to file complaints in opposition to him: “If ever all of those had been true, file a grievance in opposition to me. We now have courts. You’d inform me, ‘How do you know folks had been killed?’ and all, so meaning you’ve gotten witnesses. File the case in court docket or file instances in court docket. As I mentioned, mine and mine alone.”
Within the Senate listening to, the previous president rambled and was repetitive. He admitted to having his so-called loss of life squad and to educating cops to prod criminals to battle again so they may justify having to kill them.
Duterte was additionally unfazed, as had been his allies within the Senate, like Philippine Nationwide Police (PNP) chief-turned-Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa. When requested if the previous president’s testimony within the Senate may very well be used in opposition to him, Dela Rosa was unperturbed.
“[The statements] could also be used in opposition to him, particularly that he’s below oath, proper? He spoke in the course of the listening to….Nicely, that’s how he’s, proper? That’s how he speaks after six years of [his] presidency. He actually behaves like that. No one can management him even when you advise him,” Dela Rosa instructed reporters throughout his press convention on Wednesday, October 30. “He’s a lawyer. He was a prosecutor for a very long time. He is aware of legal regulation. He actually is aware of his stuff.”
For Worldwide Prison Court docket (ICC) assistant to counsel and Nationwide Union of Peoples’ Attorneys (NUPL) Metro Manila secretary common Kristina Conti, Duterte’s dare to file complaints in opposition to him was extra of an offense transfer than a slip-up.
“I feel the provocation, they use that within the context of intimidation. They’re intimidating folks. They’re intimidating the households and even witnesses who’re presumably cops and authorities officers that in the event that they testify in opposition to Duterte, one thing unhealthy would possibly occur to them.”
“[Duterte] doesn’t care if the ICC will arrest him as a result of he is aware of effecting that will end in a political upheaval that will profit him and his household. They’re banking on the notion that the political local weather stays of their favor and that Duterte — as he has proven within the Senate listening to — can nonetheless affect and cajole his base,” Human Rights Watch senior researcher Carlos Conde mentioned.
Internet of problems
Except for Duterte’s admissions within the Senate listening to, a whole lot of testimonies and proof hyperlink him to the Davao Loss of life Squad (DDS) and the killings within the drug warfare. For one, he clearly instructed the police to start out the “warfare.” Second, self-confessed DDS member Arturo Lascañas submitted an affidavit to the ICC detailing how Duterte gave kill orders to the DDS, amongst others.
So the place is Duterte’s confidence coming from and why is he not going through native instances for the bloody final result of his drug warfare? As a result of Duterte had immunity from authorized fits when he was president. As chief government, Duterte may very well be investigated, based on NUPL president Ephraim Cortez, however couldn’t be charged.
One more reason is, it could be onerous and sophisticated for the PNP and the Division of Justice (DOJ) to analyze their very own principal. This, moreover the PNP itself being among the many chief implementers of the drug warfare.
“It’s onerous to file a case within the Philippines. Numerous necessities are wanted earlier than you possibly can sue somebody, and amongst these requisites is proof. This proof is managed by the police as they’re statutorily mandated by the regulation to analyze any crime,” Conti instructed Rappler. “The second, in fact, was the political environment, the political framework was not conducive. Ideally, prosecutorial and judicial mechanisms must be unbiased and never political, however the actuality on the bottom was completely different.”
One more reason is shortage of — or reasonably secrecy about — drug warfare information. Not solely the drug warfare households, however even unbiased establishments just like the Fee on Human Rights, have had little to no entry to drug warfare information to adequately conduct unbiased probes.
Some households of drug warfare victims additionally have a tendency to decide on silence and their security as a result of operating after the police who killed their family members may put their lives at nice danger. Rappler has lengthy reported concerning the drug warfare households’ plight in looking for justice for his or her slain family members and threats they face. (READ: Worry, harassment push drug warfare victims’ households to pin their hopes on ICC)
“…Lots of the relations of victims of the killings are afraid to come back out. We now have to notice that their relations had been killed by males in uniform, and virtually all of them skilled difficulties in retrieving the our bodies of their relations due to police pink tape,” NUPL’s Cortez famous. “A lot of them had been compelled to signal waivers that they won’t file any case in opposition to the police.”
On the one hand, these problems had been the explanation why there have been just a few instances filed in opposition to cops, or nothing in opposition to Duterte. However these elements, then again, additionally mirror poor accountability within the drug warfare. There have been solely 4 convictions for 30,000 victims. None of those convictions concerned high-ranking cops or Duterte, the commander-in-chief.
Right here comes the ICC
“The final view is that home accountability mechanisms can’t be anticipated to ship the justice that the violations warrant, as we’ve got seen. Nothing has modified when it comes to the aptitude and willingness by regulation enforcement businesses and different our bodies just like the DOJ, the Ombudsman, even the CHR, in order that leaves the ICC as maybe the one viable possibility for justice,” Conde defined.
With all of the threats and pink tape the households have skilled, it’s comprehensible why a few of them pin their hopes on the ICC. The investigation covers DDS killings and the early years of Duterte’s drug warfare. The ICC nonetheless has jurisdiction over these alleged crimes since article 127 of the Rome Statute states that every one proceedings previous to the withdrawal of a state from the ICC stay legitimate.
However counting on the ICC doesn’t imply the households and counsels don’t belief the native justice system, Conti defined. It’s simply that there are a whole lot of elements that make the ICC the sensible alternative at this level. The ICC assistant to counsel mentioned the worldwide court docket has its personal unbiased investigating crew that probes the allegations, in distinction to the Philippines the place the police as soon as led by Duterte, will conduct its personal probe.
“Once more, the ICC is structurally insulated…. Not one of the investigators…. could be appointed or associated to any authorities official within the Philippines, whether or not elected or appointed. Clearly, it’s a world enviornment…. They’re not funded by authorities funds…by the Philippine authorities funds,” Conti defined.
“After which lastly, clearly, they won’t be affected by political modifications within the Philippines or developments, contemplating that they don’t even acknowledge presidential immunity,” she added.
As early as 2016, then-ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda mentioned her workplace was keeping track of the rising variety of drug warfare killings within the Philippines. Earlier than Duterte withdrew from the Rome Statute in 2018, the ICC Workplace of the Particular Prosecutor already introduced that it had initiated a preliminary examination of killings within the Philippines. Quick ahead to 2023, the ICC is now on the section of the probe the place the court docket can challenge both summons or warrants, following the appeals chamber’s rejection of the Philippine authorities’s attraction in 2022.
For human rights lawyer Neri Colmenares, Duterte’s reckoning within the ICC is getting nearer and nearer.
“I wouldn’t be shocked if the ICC will terminate its investigation quickly and challenge the warrant of arrest in opposition to President Duterte, not less than, possibly, earlier than the tip of this 12 months. President Duterte would be the first Asian to be tried within the ICC,” Colmenares mentioned in the course of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan’s (BAYAN) press convention on Wednesday, October 30.
Activists, attorneys, and households of drug warfare victims renewed their calls on the Marcos authorities to make use of the “mounting proof” offered within the Home of Representatives’ quad committee hearings, after which cooperate with the ICC. Within the quad committee hearings, bombshell testimonies had been already given by witnesses like retired police colonel Royina Garma and retired police officer Jovie Espenido concerning the begin of the drug warfare and the reward system that was in place.
On prime of those, Colmenares mentioned in addition they plan to undergo the ICC any transcript, affidavit, or sworn assertion from the quad committee. In any case, the ICC depends on all kinds of sources, together with open sources, in its investigations.
How a few new native case?
For the file, Duterte’s admissions within the Senate had been made below oath. Sworn statements might be admitted as proof so long as they had been duly authenticated and correctly adduced. Testimonies in Senate hearings could also be utilized in judicial proceedings, as within the case of former chief justice Renato Corona within the Sandiganbayan, the place the prosecution and the protection each used transcripts of Senate impeachment proceedings as proof.
Though there’s confidence on the a part of Duterte and his allies, Dela Rosa clarified that Duterte’s admissions had been simply “jokes.” It’s vital to notice, nevertheless, that mendacity below oath is punishable below the Revised Penal Code. An individual could also be chargeable for perjury for mendacity below oath in non-judicial proceedings, whereas in courts, there may be legal responsibility for giving false testimony.
In the meantime, ought to there be native complaints in opposition to Duterte, Colmenares believes that the federal government ought to take the lead in holding Duterte accountable. For the human rights lawyer, the burden must be on the state, and never on the households, particularly now that Duterte is now not president.
“As we mentioned, let’s not give the burden of submitting instances to the households of the victims. They lengthy wished justice. They weren’t simply given the prospect to pursue complaints,” Colmenares mentioned.
Reporters have already reached out to the DOJ for feedback in response to Colmenares’ remarks. We’ll replace this story as soon as they reply.
For now, it’s clear that the clock is ticking on Duterte. Households of drug warfare victims pray that accountability will come sooner reasonably than later — particularly for the reason that Philippines is simply years away from one other presidential election that may resolve not solely the nation’s future, but additionally how their quest for justice will finish. – with analysis from Dean Gabriel Amarillas/Rappler.com
*Some quotes had been translated into English for brevity
Dean Gabriel Amarillas, a 3rd 12 months Philippine research scholar in UP Diliman, is a Rappler intern. Study extra about Rappler’s internship program right here.
