By Lili

On Tuesday, March 11, Filipino citizens buzzed on the Internet with the shocking news of former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte being arrested at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 after Philippine authorities implemented the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrant against the former President.

A few hours after his arrest, the ex-President was then taken to a chartered plane and flown out of the Philippines to go to The Hague, Netherlands, where he will face trial for the crimes committed against humanity in the infamous ‘War on Drugs’ during his term.

In response to his arrest, die-hard Duterte fans gathered at the Rizal Park in Davao City, carrying small placards stating “We stand for FPRRD,” while crying out for justice, something that Duterte did not uphold during the entirety of his drug war. 

On the other hand, human rights advocates and families of those who fell victim to the horrors of Duterte’s administration saw the arrest as a progress to the next big step toward accountability that was long overdue. “Justice must not be manipulated for political gain. The victims and their families deserve nothing less than full, impartial accountability,” Lawyer Antonio Azarcon, UPLM chairperson added.

Now, with Duterte being arrested and currently awaiting trial for the heinous crimes and human rights violations committed during the entirety of his term, will this ‘progress’ shine a glimmer of hope for those who have suffered from Duterte’s extrajudicial killings? Or will injustice and power prevail once again over the pursuit of accountability and justice?

Oplan: Tokhang Arestado!

According to the Philippine Communications Office, the Philippine government has received the official copy of the arrest warrant from the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) issued by the ICC on the early morning of March 11. Once the former President and his team landed in the Philippines from Hong Kong, he was then presented with the arrest warrant right away. “Sa kanyang pagdating, inihain ng Prosecutor General ang ICC notification para sa isang arrest warrant sa dating Pangulo para sa  krimen laban sa sangkatauhan. Ang dating Pangulo at ang kanyang grupo ay nasa mabuting kalusugan at sinuri ng mga [doktor]  ng gobyerno. Sinigurado na siya ay nasa maayos na kalagayan,” the PCO added.

For almost nine years, the ICC has been keeping an eye on the bloodshed that resulted in Duterte’s drug war proliferating in the Philippines during his administration, with ex-ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda first taking notice of the increasing number of deaths related to the ‘war on drugs’ on October 13, 2016. On February 8, 2018, the ICC Office of the Prosecutor announced its official initiation of a preliminary examination and probe into Duterte’s drug war. 

In response to this, then-Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said that Duterte welcomes the preliminary investigation, as the ex-President was “tired” of accusations of human rights violations against his drug war. However, on March 14, 2018, Duterte announced the withdrawal of the Philippines as a member-state of the ICC, contrary to what appeared to be an initially ‘unbothered’ response to the probe. 

Duterte’s ‘war on drugs,’ however, was notably heavily characterized by extrajudicial killings, lack of due process, lack of accountability, numerous accounts of injustices, and overall extreme abuse of power. His drug war resulted in at least 6,252 deaths in police operations alone by May 2022, while the estimated total number of victims were recorded to range from 27,000 to 30,000, including those killed vigilante-style. 

However, merely knowing these numbers fails to do justice and give faces to the people and the families who have long suffered, endured, and cried out for accountability from Duterte himself, who, until now, remains to be unapologetic about the crimes his administration perpetrated against humanity — against the marginalized, against Filipinos. 

The arrest warrant and further trials, albeit almost nine years due, prove to be one that is crucial. The thousands of Filipinos who fell victim to Duterte’s drug war right now may look as though they are merely ‘numbers.’ However, each and every one of these numbers represents the many times justice was overlooked and failed to prevail in the hands of the powerful. Each and every one of these numbers represents the number of lives lost in Duterte’s pursuit of absolute power — one that was masked with the “grand attempt” at “protecting Filipinos.”

If extrajudicial killings marked Duterte’s pursuit of “protecting Filipinos,” perhaps then, our best option is to protect ourselves, not from those who were accused and falsely claimed to have been in possession of illegal drugs, but from those who have control over the police, the media and what is perceived to be true, and from those who strive to have absolute control over the lives of Filipinos. Perhaps, then, our best option for survival is to protect ourselves from those who claim to “serve and protect” Filipinos, especially the ones seated now in the seat of government. 

When the Perpetrator Meets Prosecution

One of the victims of Duterte’s drug war was the 17-year-old Kian Loyd delos Santos, who was mercilessly killed by three Caloocan policemen. 

According to the initial statement of the police, the 17-year-old student was killed in an encounter. However, CCTV footage showed that delos Santos was dragged to a dark alley, where he was eventually shot. Delos Santos, notably, told the policemen, “Tama na po, may test pa po bukas,” before he was shot to death. Eventually, delos Santos became one of the many minors who fell victim to Duterte’s war on drugs. 

Delos Santos’ encounter with the police is one that reveals the lack of justice and due process given to those who were accused of participating in drug-related activities. However, contrary to his encounter showing the lack of justice and due process many Filipinos experienced during Duterte’s administration, supporters of the former President called for “justice” amidst the alleged ‘lack of due process” in Duterte’s arrest in spite of having no harm and no foul experienced by the drug war mastermind. 

What is foul, however, lies in Duterte’s supporters and families, particularly the Vice President Sara Duterte calling the arrest as “oppression and persecution” and stating that the former President’s fundamental right when he was arrested. 

Calling out a formal arrest as “oppression and persecution” while overlooking and being unapologetic about all the extrajudicial killings that thousands of Filipinos faced during the war on drugs reveals that the Dutertes’ perception of justice and accountability is biased and skewed. Upholding justice and demanding accountability only when their family members experience and meet “persecution” and not when thousands of Filipinos cried for it shows that the Duterte family only truly cared about and served their own family’s personal gain and not the best interests of the Filipino people — whom they are supposed and promised to serve in the first place. 

In the Face of True Justice 

As the famous saying goes, “What goes around comes back around,” Duterte’s eventual arrest and decline reveal to us the face of true justice. Despite thousands of Filipinos being deprived of justice and due process during the drug war, the face of true justice came back stronger against the former President Duterte — the main perpetrator of the bloodshed and horrors that resulted from his pursuit of absolute power masked with the attempt at “protecting Filipinos.”

When power is in the hands of the greedy — justice will be ignored. When power is abused — justice is ignored. It is about time that Duterte faces the true justice he willingly deprived from his victims. It is about time he experiences the same degree of “persecution” his victims faced.