A member of the Makabayan Bloc said the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte is not merely a political issue between the Marcos and Duterte camps, as Vice President Sara Duterte seems to frame it.
“This is about accountability for the estimated 30,000 lives lost during the drug war, many of whom were breadwinners whose families continue to suffer economic hardship and trauma to this day,” Rep. Arlene Brosas of Gabriela Party-list said.
According to Brosas, Duterte’s statement that “we should move on as a country” is a direct affront to the thousands of widows, orphans, and mothers, who continue to seek justice for their loved ones killed in the drug war.
“There can be no genuine moving on without accountability and justice,” Brosas said.
Brosas reminded the Vice President that the drug war orchestrated by her father “disproportionately targeted poor communities, leaving thousands of women as single parents struggling to raise their children amid economic hardship.”
“These women cannot simply ‘move on’ when the architect of their suffering has yet to face full accountability,” she said.
Brosas also reminded that former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief and now Senator Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa, among other key players in the drug war, have not been held accountable for the killings along with other policemen.
“Justice demands that all those responsible—from the top architects to the trigger-pullers—be held to account for their crimes,” Brosas emphasized.
“We must stand with the victims’ families in their continuing pursuit of justice and reject these attempts to whitewash the human rights violations committed during the Duterte administration,” she appealed.