‘KILL KILL KILL’ (1)

SUMULONG ang sakdal na crimes against humanity na isinampa sa International Criminal Court (ICC) laban kay Gongdi at mga kasabwat sa madugo pero bigong giyera kontra droga. Nasa “formal investigation” ito at maaaring dakpin sa Hunyo si Gongdi at mga kasapakat. Maaari ipiit sila sa ICC headquarters sa The Hague upang harapin ang court trial.

Noong Disyembre, inilabas ko ang aking aklat na pinamagatang “KILL KILL KILL Extrajudicial Killings in the Philippines; Crimes Against Humanity vs. Rodrigo Duterte Et. Al.” Ibinigay ko ang detalye sa palpak na digmaan kontra droga ni Gongdi.

Dahil balita ang plano na dakpin ng ICC si Gongdi, binalikan ko ang ilang halaw ng aking aklat.Bahagi ito ng unang tsapter – “War on Drugs.” Tinalakay ko ang buod at layunin ng war on drugs ni Gongdi na sa aking tingin ay isang tao na hindi normal ang pag-iisip. Pakibasa:

WAR AGAINST THE POOR. Duterte’s election as president and ascendancy to power in 2016 is a tragedy of historic and global significance and implications. Duterte is the blind leader elected by the equally blind Filipino people to lead them. After he has taken over, Duterte unleashed the unusual ferocity to kill his own people with impunity and took steps to undermine and weaken the Philippine legal system to bring criminals within the ambit of the criminal justice system. His war against drugs is nothing but a war against the poor, the powerless, and the downtrodden. Most of the people whom he ordered killed came from the depressed urban communities. They were helpless, as they did not have the capacity to fight back. His order to kill them did not undergo the legal processes enshrined in the Philippine Constitution and existing laws. They were hardly given the chance to defend themselves, reform, and return as useful citizens to society.

Duterte’s bloody antidrug war was alleged to have triggered the death of between 16,000 to 30,000 people from 2016 to 2019, the year of withdrawal by the Philippines from the Rome Statute, the multilateral treaty that has created the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2003. No less than Fatou Bensouda, the now retired ICC Chief Prosecutor, had made the estimates on the basis of the preliminary investigation that she led in 2018 on the drug-related extrajudicial killings (EJKs) under the Duterte government. Bensouda, who was the ICC chief prosecutor when Duterte became president, recommended in 2021 the official formal investigation by the ICC on the charges of crimes against humanity, which a pair of intrepid Filipino lawmakers, Antonio Trillanes IV and Gary Alejano, had built up, filed with, and brought in 2017 to the ICC. It was Trillanes and Alejano, who brought the first information on crimes against humanity charges against Duterte and his cohorts before the ICC. When it was not fashionable to bring any president, prime minister, and chief executive before an international forum, the pair of lawmakers, who belong to the Magdalo Party List, did what could be regarded as outrageous, unthinkable, and unprecedented.

At that time, no one had the audacity to file the charges against Duterte and his ilk before the ICC or any other international forum. Duterte and his ilk were at the height of their political power, viewing his electoral mandate as sort of a license to kill the people, whom they fancied. Political leaders, even the ones in the democratic political opposition, had kept silent for fear of reprisal from Duterte and his minions. They basically did not know what to do and how to respond to the bloody war on drugs. They did not have the courage, drive, and initiative to go against the flow. They chose the path of least resistance, hoping the issue would solve itself. But Trillanes and Alejano persisted and ignored the threats of retaliation, as Duterte brandished his supposed mandate to kill the people allegedly involved in illegal drug trade.

COMPLEX FIELD. Incidentally, international criminal law is a field of international law that seeks to regulate the behavior of states, organizations, political leaders, and individuals operating across national boundaries in the commission of international crimes. It deals with securing suspects, witnesses and evidence from other countries to prosecute a crime. International criminal law is a complex field, as it undergoes frequent and continuous changes. Mired in the parochialism and limited viewpoint of provincial politics, Duterte and his ilk did not know that they would fall entrapped in this relatively new branch of international law and would have to pay dearly for their sins against the Filipino people, whom they had sworn to serve and defend under the 1987 Constitution.

***

STATE-SPONSORED CAMPAIGN
EVEN at the start of his presidency, Rodrigo Duterte was bent to pursue the war on drugs. In his June 30, 2016 inaugural address, which he immediately delivered after he was sworn into office, Duterte could not help but deliver conflicting statements. He proclaimed that, as a lawyer and former state prosecutor, he knew the extent of the presidential power and authority and that he knew what was legal and right. It was a statement that was met by thunderous applause. It was a statement that was later used against him by the international community of uncompromising human rights advocates. He said:

“My adherence to due process and the rule of law is uncompromising.”

In the early part of his inaugural address, he indicated that he would pursue a bloody war on drugs, using illegal means, which might include extrajudicial killings, or summary executions devoid of the legal processes. Little did the world know he would resort to the combined use of the Philippine National Police (PNP) as an institution and unnamed vigilante groups in his war on illegal drugs. Duterte had the gall to warn the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), the constitutional body tasked to protect every citizen from every conceivable human rights abuse and ensure the compliance of the Philippines on international pacts on human rights, asking it to get out of his way in his pursuit of the war on drugs. It was a statement that directly contradicted his purported adherence to the rule of law and its flipside – due processes. Sounding defensive but impetuous and imperious, by all means, Duterte declared:

“There are those who do not approve of my methods of fighting criminality, the sale and use of illegal drugs and corruption. They say that my methods are unorthodox and verge on the illegal. In response, let me say this: I have seen how corruption bled the government of funds, which were allocated for the use in uplifting the poor from the mire that they are in. I have seen how illegal drugs destroyed individuals and ruined family relationships. I have seen how criminality, by means all foul, snatched from the innocent and the unsuspecting, the years and years of accumulated savings. Years of toil and then, suddenly, they are back to where they started. Look at this from that perspective and tell me that I am wrong.”

The coup de grace:
“In this fight, I ask Congress and the Commission on Human Rights and all others who are similarly situated to allow us a level of governance that is consistent [with] our mandate. The fight will be relentless and it will be sustained.” (Itutuloy)