THE arrest of Rodrigo Duterte three years after leaving Malacañang at the end of his term as president on June 30, 2022 demonstrates very clearly that no one is above the law and the quest for justice must be pursued even against overwhelming odds.
During his presidency, Duterte immediately began to wage a bloody war on illegal drugs that targeted mostly small-time drug dealers and users, rather than the big-time drug lords.
The Philippine National Police said their official records show over 6,000 drug suspects were killed since they fought back when accosted by police operatives. But human rights groups here and abroad put the death toll at a much higher figure of between 20 and 30 thousand.
The International Criminal Court apparently believes the high death toll in Duterte’s violent war on drugs falls squarely under the category of crimes against humanity and merits his arrest and detention while the case undergoes trial in The Hague.
For the families of those who died in Duterte’s war on drugs, his arrest has been long in coming, as he should have been held to account before our courts even earlier.
But precisely because Duterte wielded vast power during his tenure, only two or three cases of summary executions of drug suspects by the police resulted in convictions.
In his testimonies before hearings on the extra-judicial killings at the Senate and House of Representatives, Duterte even admitted giving orders to the police to kill drug suspects, but said he would take full responsibility for the actions of law enforcers.
He has every chance to argue his case now that he has been flown to The Hague to face the charges against him.
We agree with former Senator Antonio Trillanes that the former president’s arrest is a “crucial step for accountability” in this country.
Trillanes was among those who helped build an airtight case against Duterte with the help of two former members of the dreaded Davao Death Squad or DDS that systematically eliminated drug suspects from Davao City during Duterte’s term as Mayor.
Former Senator and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, who spent nearly seven years in prison for a welter of trumped-up charges for alleged conspiracy to traffic in illegal drugs, had this to say on Dutrete’s arrest:
“This is how justice should work—those in power must be held to the same standards as everyone else.” We agree.
Where a crime has been committed, there must be accountability, and there must be commensurate punishment if found guilty.
Mr. Duterte must now face the music and account for the thousands of deaths that took place in Davao City when he was still the Mayor and later as President where he wielded an iron hand to commit murder and mayhem in an unprecedented scale and barbarity for six long years.