The bloody war on drugs orchestrated by former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte can have faded into obscurity, however it continues to take a toll on people.
On July 18, the International Criminal Court (ICC) rejected the Philippines’ appeal to halt the international investigation into alleged crimes committed between 2011 and 2019 under the guise of legality. According to a civil society leader, moments after the ICC’s verdict, the old woman – still mourning the murder of her grandson in 2019 – breathed her last, waiting for justice which will still be distant.
“It’s a victory of sorts, but it still needs more work,” said Deaconess Rubylin G. Litao, coordinator of the United Methodist Church-led organization Rise Up for Life and for Rights. She spoke after attending the funeral of a lady who co-organized, but declined to provide her name within the hope of protecting the surviving family.
“Some families waited almost a decade for this, others didn’t last long enough,” Litao said. “There are still nameless victims who died in this war. There are more families who continue to remain silent and try to cover up the truth.”
Officially, about 6 thousand people died within the war on drugs in 2016–2019. Litao and her alliance imagine there have been no 1000’s more deaths, based on the ICC prosecutor as many as 30,000 people died in the identical period.
The Philippines formally withdrew from the ICC in 2019, a couple of 12 months after the organization announced its intention to research anti-drug killings. Two years later, in 2021, the ICC prosecutor asked the Pre-Trial Chamber for permission to open an investigation.
But after years of debate over the alleged ineffectiveness and bias of the country’s investigation into the war on drugs, the ICC last month upheld its ability to proceed a global investigation, rejecting the Philippines’ call to maintain the cases behind closed doors. The latest court ruling means the investigation will proceed, although President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has already declared his intention to not interfere on this investigation.
In recent comments to Philippine pressidentified “very serious questions on their jurisdiction and what we consider interference and attacks on the sovereignty of the Republic.”
“We are basically withdrawing from any contact, any communication with the ICC,” Marcos Jr. said.
Shortly after becoming president in 2016, Duterte launched a brutal crackdown on drug crimes. He authorized police to arrest or kill people coping with illegal drugs in two operations, or “plans,” in a campaign often known as “Double Barrel.”
These operations included ““Tokhang”aimed toward suspicious users or low-level dealers of their homes, and “High Value Target”, aimed toward larger industry players.
This campaign is central to the ICC investigation, however the scope of the proposed inquiry will go even deeper, stretching from November 2011, when the Philippines became a member of the Court, to March 2019, when it withdrew.
Therefore, the court accepted a request to expand the investigation beyond Duterte’s war on drugs and include it within the so-called “Davao Death Squad.”
When Duterte was mayor of Davao City from 2011 to 2016 and before his election as president, local authorities allegedly committed 385 extrajudicial killings. Duterte took a tricky approach to drug crimes during his presidential campaign openly committed to investing within the bloody “war on drugs.”
Shortly after the ICC approved the investigation, the Philippines filed a request for a postponement, maintaining that it had no jurisdiction over crimes committed within the country after the court withdrew. In January this 12 months, the Pre-Trial Chamber granted the prosecutor’s request to reopen the investigation, confirming the court’s jurisdiction to act while the Philippines was a member. Marcos Jr. he filed one other appeal, which was rejected by the newest decision of the court’s Pre-Trial Chamber.
The ICC prosecutor’s office, which is leading the investigation, said it had cooperated with the Philippine government through the adjournment process and “hopes to explore ways of cooperating with all interested parties.”
The Litao Alliance is one among them. The organization strives to proceed working with the community and supporting families in looking for justice for his or her family members.
“I believe the international community has seen the struggles of the Filipino people, especially the families of the victims,” Litao said. “We are happy and want to continue to cooperate with the International Criminal Court in this investigation.”
The core of civil society within the country is rallying to arrange to defend victims before the ICC, said lawyer Theodore O. Te, regional coordinator for the National Capital Region on the Free Legal Aid Group (FLAG).
“We are assisting some applicants and supporting our lawyers who have applied for accreditation with the ICC as assistant legal counsel,” he said. “Realistically, I don’t think the prosecutor’s office can expect official help from the Philippine government.”
It was less intense but still there. The killings are still happening.”
Theodore O. Te, regional coordinator of the Free Legal Aid Group
The Marcos administration has yet to invalidate any of Duterte’s official documents that served as legal justification for extrajudicial killings or other human rights violations, and has been accused of human rights staff continuing the bloodshed in a more peaceful manner
The FLAG challenged these Duterte-era declarations within the Supreme Court and is currently awaiting its decision. If the court finds these issues illegal or unconstitutional, the war on drugs will lose its official authority and legitimacy, Te explained.
While domestic justice stays a priority, Te believes there’s little probability the killings can be addressed at a national level under the present government. The ICC, he said, appears to be the one judicial treatment available.
“Filipinos are not so thrilled with the idea of going to the ICC. We have no choice,” he said. “But we are also realistic enough to know that the ICC is not perfect.”
Te said that Filipinos themselves could have to pave the technique to implement accountability on the community level. This is simply possible through a conscious political process that turns away from violence and prioritizes human rights, he said.
“The war on drugs was unofficially started by Duterte. Now, in a sense, it has changed. It was less intense but still there. The killings are still happening,” Te said.
