Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 29) — Trust in the Philippine judicial system may still be an issue for the families of the victims in the previous administration’s deadly war on drugs even now that Rodrigo Duterte is no longer president.
This was according to Neri Colmenares, a former lawmaker and legal counsel of the victims’ families who filed a complaint before the International Criminal Court (ICC), during a joint panel hearing in the House of Representatives on Wednesday.
At the hearing, Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong said the government has been citing the issue of sovereignty during discussions about the ICC’s investigation into the country’s situation related to the drug war campaign.
He agreed that the country has “solid” and “working” courts, and that “meron tayong justice system dito [we have a justice system here],” which would mean that the country does not need an international entity to enter to probe the situation.
Adiong then asked Colmenares if he would advise drug war victims’ families to file complaints before Philippine courts as Duterte is not the incumbent president and is now without immunity from suit.
“That is the matter for them to decide, we’re just the counsel. However, the issue of trust is there,” Colmenares said.
He cited that both the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) do not know how many cases have been filed on the killings by the police’s drug-related operatives.
“The impression of everybody is you may be working, the judicial system may be working, but you’re unwilling,” Colmenares said. “This is not very encouraging, Mr. Chair. I mean it’s 2016 (referring to the start of the anti-drug policy), it’s now 2023 and the DOJ cannot even give a straight answer.”
State prosecutor Hazel Decena-Valdez, program director of the DOJ Human Rights Office, said that according to the last submitted figures from the PNP, there were at least 7,732 deaths involving drug personalities from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2022.
“This is actually a moving number,” she told lawmakers. “From what I understand, itong mga personnel from the PNP continue to process these cases.”
She added that a DOJ panel will be sitting down with personnel from the PNP, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, the Dangerous Drugs Board, and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to “get the figures straight.”
Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra, who was Duterte’s justice secretary from 2018 to 2022, argued that not all of the over 7,000 deaths were results of police’s abuse of power
Guevarra said that during his time in the DOJ, the PNP submitted to the department at least 56 cases where police officers are believed to have possible liability that were forwarded to the NBI for case build-up.
The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) said 3,998 cases related to the war on drugs have been filed before the commission from May 10, 2016 to Sept. 18, 2023. It said 90% the cases were from investigations it conducted on its own accord.
But Commissioner Faydah Dumarpa told lawmakers that many cases were still pending in the CHR as police reports needed for investigations were not given to them.
The House Committee on Justice and Human Rights tackled three resolutions urging the government to cooperate with the ICC’s probe into the drug war campaign in the country. They eventually adopted the resolutions with no amendments.
Panel chairpersons also approved a motion to coordinate with Sen. Risa Hontiveros, who filed a similar intention in the upper chamber, to convert the document into a concurrent resolution to express the sense of Congress.
Amy Jane Lee of Rise Up for Life and for Rights, who spoke on behalf of the families of the victims during the drug war, thanked lawmakers who filed the resolutions.
“Naniniwala at umaasa kami na ang imbestigasyon na ito ng ICC ay para sa interes ng mga maralitang pamilyang nawalan ng mga mahal sa buhay na nasa nakaraang pitong taon ay patuloy na naghahanap ng hustisya,” Lee said. “Mahalaga sa amin ang resolusyong ito upang magbigay ng daan na mapanagot ang pinakaresponsable sa mga naganap na pamamaslang sa halos 7,000 biktima.”
[Translation: We believe the ICC probe is for poor families searching for justice in the past seven years for their lost loved ones. The resolution is important for us to hold into account those responsible for the 7,000 victims in the drug-related killings.]
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earlier said his administration is studying whether the country should rejoin the ICC, but insisted that the body has “no jurisdiction” to probe the drug war killings.
Dumarpa said the CHR, an independent constitutional body, is willing to cooperate with the international court’s probe “if the ICC so requests.”
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