Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro has urged the House Quad Committee to recommend the filing of criminal charges against ex-President Rodrigo Duterte for supposed violations of international humanitarian law and potential murder.
During the Nov. 13 Quad Comm hearing, she presented grim statistics on casualties from Duterte’s war on drugs, questioning the legality of the manner employed under his administration.
Citing data from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and various rights groups, she noted 6,252 deaths in police anti-drug operations as of May 2022, even while some human rights groups contend that some 27,000 to 30,000 were killed in extrajudicial killings.
Luistro pointed out that 427 activists, human rights defenders, and grassroots organizers as of December 2021; 166 land and environmental defenders as of December 2020; 23 journalists and media workers as of April 2022; 66 members of the judiciary and legal profession as of December 2021; and 28 mayors and vice mayors were killed as of December 2021.
She directly confronted Duterte during the hearing, asking “Mr. President, my question is, when you implemented the war on drugs, did you strictly comply with the requirement of due process?”
Duterte’s reply to the direct question was, “Yes.”
“Contrary to the answer of the former President, I humbly believe that the former President and his war on drugs never complied with the requirements of due process,” Luistro said.
“If indeed, they followed the requirement of due process, no one should have died that much, and there would be many cases filed in courts,” she added.
“The statistics show, Mr. Chair, this is almost or around 31,000 victims of the war on drugs,” she told Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, the committee chairperson.
“By Mr. President’s own admission of his accountability, both to legal and illegal actions of the police, it is the humble submission of this representation, Mr. Chair, that the Quad Comm is ready to make a recommendation for the filing of the necessary action in court — that is a violation of the law, RA 9851, Act Defining and Penalizing Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, or at the very least, the murder cases, as defined under the Revised Penal Code,” she said.
Editor’s Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline: “Luistro seeks criminal charges against Duterte over drug war deaths”
