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While administration-allied House lawmakers continue to publicly ignore the ICC investigation into Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war in favor of local prosecution, they embrace the line of criticism that the former president committed crimes against humanity
MANILA, Philippines – Former president Rodrigo Duterte’s unapologetic admissions before the Senate about his role in drug war-related deaths make him liable for crimes against humanity, House human rights committee chairperson Bienvenido Abante said on Tuesday, October 29.
The statement came a day after Duterte told the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee that he had ordered cops to “encourage” suspects to fight back so police could kill them, and that he had his own personal death squad.
“It is now up to the proper authorities to consider the statement carefully and ascertain the criminal liability of responsible individuals whether under the concept of command responsibility or conspiracy. These cases could include crimes against humanity, as penalized under Republic Act No. 9581, the Philippine Act on Crimes against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes against Humanity,” Abante said.
“Duterte’s admission in the Senate hearing, made spontaneously and as an admission against interest, is binding upon him,” he added.
Human rights lawyer Chel Diokno, who was among the resource persons at the Monday, October 28 Senate hearing, also said that Duterte’s admissions that can be used against him in court.
“It is very damning evidence because he made those statements under oath and those are what we call extrajudicial admissions,” Diokno said during a television interview. “That is coming from the horse’s mouth. It is the best kind of evidence because it doesn’t come from someone else. It came directly from the former president.”
‘Shocking normalization of brutality’
Abante also denounced the “shocking normalization of brutality” during Monday’s Senate inquiry in which Duterte said he “offers no apologies, no excuses” for the extrajudicial killings that hounded his term.
Drug war killings during his presidency reached more than 6,000 based on government records, and more than 20,000 based on tallies from the human rights community.
“We saw how the former president was given a platform to rewrite history, to gaslight the nation, by justifying acts that led to thousands of deaths,” Abante said.
Abante’s remarks highlight the House of Representatives’ slow-but-sure embrace of the line of criticism hurled at the former president, even though lawmakers allied with the Marcos administration still shun the International Criminal Court investigation into Duterte’s alleged crimes against humanity, in favor of local prosecution.
Critics of the former president said the Senate inquiry became a Duterte show after senators allowed him to ramble, cuss, and talk over them.
Sta. Rosa, Laguna Representative Dan Fernandez, chairman of the House public order panel, said the quad committee — the chamber’s mega panel investigating controversies that gripped the Duterte administration — will not allow that kind of behavior from the former president.
“If the former president cursed before the Senate and we allow him to do the same here, what prevents others from making that kind of statement as well?” Fernandez asked.
“It seems like ‘point of order’ isn’t common in the Senate. If our president swears with a PI (son of a bitch) in our quad comm, that’s still a point of order. We should not allow any vulgar statements in that hearing,”
The quad committee previously invited Duterte to take part in its October 22 inquiry, so he could respond to allegations that after he won the 2016 presidential election, he deliberately elevated to the national level the supposed “Davao model” of monetary rewards in exchange for successful killings.
Duterte declined the invitation, citing health reasons, but committed to attend proceedings that will be set by the House in November. The next hearing is set on November 6.
“We expect the former president to show up in our next hearing. We have many questions to ask him about his war on drugs and the deaths that resulted from it. We believe his answers will give us a more complete picture of the extrajudicial killings,” Abante said. – Rappler.com
