As the ex-president faces charges for crimes against humanity, families of people killed in Duterte’s anti-drug campaign are demanding full accountability.
Gerard Carreon, Jeoffrey Maitem and Jojo Riñoza/Quezon City and Davao, Philippines
For families of Filipinos who were killed in Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody crackdown on illegal drugs, the former Philippine president’s arrest and swift transfer to the International Criminal Court marked a long-awaited step toward justice.
Duterte arrived on Wednesday in the Netherlands, where he was to be placed into custody of the world court, according to reports. The day before, Philippine authorities put him on a chartered flight bound for Rotterdam via Dubai, following his arrest on an ICC warrant in Manila earlier on Tuesday.
“When I heard [Duterte] was arrested and was being taken [to the ICC], I was very happy. I jumped for joy,” said Jane Lee, her eyes welling with tears.
Her husband Michael was among the thousands of suspected narcotics dealers or addicts who died in the so-called “drug war” waged during Duterte’s presidency (2016-22).
“I wanted to see my children right away because I was at work. I wanted to hug my three children and tell them that ‘finally the day I and the other families are hoping for’ has arrived,” she said.
Lee was among a group of widows and mothers of victims of extrajudicial killings (EJKs), who joined a news conference Wednesday at a church in Metro Manila to air their views on the ex-president’s historic arrest.
Many of the families had been living in fear of reprisals from corrupt police officials who took part in Duterte’s drug war launched immediately after he won a six-year term in 2016.
Human rights groups said that as many as 20,000 suspected drug pushers and addicts were slain in the drug war, although official police figures put the death toll at more than 6,000. Many victims had been taken off the official list because they were classified as “deaths under investigation,” according to rights groups.
Emily Soriano, who was also at the press conference, had been joining anti-Duterte marches since her 16-year-old son Angelito was killed in a police operation soon after Duterte took office.
Her son, a grade 8 student, was at a friend’s house in late December 2016 when masked men entered and shot them, in what could have been a case of mistaken identity.
Angelito was among seven people killed by masked men believed to be vigilantes with ties to the police.
She urged the public to support their fight for justice.
“All the victims of Duterte and his cops, we hope you join us. Do not be afraid. We are just a few, but here we are speaking up to let the public know that you can join us,” Soriano said.
Seated beside Soriano was Llore Pasco, whose two sons were EJK victims a year into Duterte’s presidency, and Jane Lee.
Lee said the last time she saw her husband alive was on March 20, 2017, when he had asked her to pick up their children from school because he would be home late. Two vigilantes on a motorcycle shot Michael dead that day.
Neither she nor Michael had used drugs, Lee said, although a relative of her husband was a known drug peddler.
After the incident, Lee said her family had to move to another place. She also had to take on a job and provide for her children.
“What we went through was really hard,” Lee said. “So, whenever they [Duterte supporters] say that he was a victim, I am seething in anger because we were the ones truly victimized by violence.”
“Now tell us who are the real victims here? Why do we need to do this? To go in front of the media and tell our story repeatedly? That is not an easy thing to do,” Lee also said.
Pasco’s sons – Crisanto and Juan Carlos – went missing one day in May 2017. The next day, they learned from local television news that the two, both suspected drug users, were killed in a robbery, police said.
“I am very happy that [Duterte] was arrested. But that’s just the start. It is a long road to justice, because he still has to face a trial,” she said.
Crimes against humanity
Lawyers for Duterte had sought a restraining order to fight off the ICC warrant.
But on Wednesday, the Philippine Supreme Court rejected their 94-page petition, saying the petitioners had “failed to establish a clear and unmistakable right for an issuance of a TRO.”
Two of Duterte’s children, Sebastian and Veronica, also filed a separate petition to compel the government to return him. These petitions, however, are likely moot and academic, with the ICC not expected to repatriate Duterte unless he is cleared of the charges.
Duterte, 79, is accused of “crimes against humanity” in connection with his drug war and dating back to 2011, when he was the mayor of southern Davao city.
The ex-leader has insisted that the Philippines should not recognize the ICC because during his term, Manila withdrew from a statute that established the world court. His lawyers have said that his arrest – the first of a Philippine president – was illegal.
“[The International Criminal Police Organization] asked for help, and we obliged because we have commitments to Interpol which we have to fulfill. If we don’t do that, they will not – they will no longer help us with other cases involving Filipino fugitives abroad,” Ferdinand Marcos Jr. told a news conference minutes after a chartered executive jet took off from Manila late Tuesday night with Duterte aboard.
“This is what the international community expects of us as the leader of a democratic country that is part of the community of nations,” he said.
The Marcoses and the Dutertes were once formidable political allies, and Sara Duterte ran as the former’s vice president in 2022. The alliance has since crumbled over an open feud between the families.
Last month, the House of Representatives impeached Sara Duterte for alleged constitutional violations, corruption, plotting to assassinate Marcos, betrayal of public trust and other high crimes – accusations which her family rejected as “political persecution.”
She is expected to face an impeachment trial before the Senate later this year.
The police and military forces, meanwhile, said they were on heightened alert, amid rallies of support for Duterte in Davao, his bailiwick where he was once a mayor.
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