IN my first book, "KILL KILL KILL Extrajudicial Killings in the Philippines; Crimes Against Humanity v. Rodrigo Duterte Et. Al.", I rationalized the necessity to document Rodrigo Duterte's war and drugs and the numerous EJKs that happened. I did this task in the preface and introduction of the book.
PREFACE
THIS book is about the bloody, chaotic, and uncontrolled but ill fated war on drugs, which the government of Rodrigo Duterte launched at the start of his six year term as president in 2016. It talks about the series of extrajudicial killings (EJKs) and their ill effects to Philipine society. It discusses the crimes against humanity charges, which critics have filed before the International Criminal Court (ICC) against the foul mouthed, floor spitting, and ill-mannered former Davao City mayor, who became president due to the popular demand to eradicate the drug problem.
This book provides an overview of how the war on drugs has wreaked havoc in Philippine society, as it has created a new caste of orphans, widows, widowers, and families without breadwinners and widowmakers as well. It has not achieved much, but tears, fears, and hardships for the poor, powerless, helpless, and downtrodden people. It could not be described as successful because the sheer number of murdered people is no yardstick of success.
This book has no pretensions. It neither gives an elaborate anti-drug alternative program nor sweeping moral prescriptions. It tells the adverse effects of the drug issue and Duterte’s war on drugs as well. It suggests and implies that a state program based on the murder of its people is never a workable and acceptable way to resolve the illegal drug issue. It pays to follow the rule of law and various programs that seek to solve the drug issue. They are all founded on peace. “There never was a good war or bad peace,” Benjamin Franklin once said.
Duterte’s war on drugs, by all means, is a dismal failure. Pro-Duterte people, who are still in the denial stage, do not know what they say. The drug problem exists until today. Its magnitude has worsened. It does not appear to have any immediate solution. Meanwhile, a clear-cut program to stop or even lessen it remains unclear, or even far-fetched.
The drug issue will hound us not only in the near future, but many years from now. The bloody but ill-fated war on drugs of the Duterte government is something we have to confront, learn, and understand because it offers us lessons. We cannot ignore it. We have to know and accept that thousands of poor and hapless citizens died in vain in the bloody but failed war on drugs.
It took nearly two years to complete this book. The frequently extended lockdown, which Duterte harshly imposed purportedly to contain the spread of the Covid-19 virus, gave enough time to collate documents related to his war on drugs. Soon, writing this book was conceived. The last six months was a period of extensive writing. A special friend from New York City has encouraged me to write this book. I dedicate this book to Ms. Teri “T.”
***
I drew inspiration from the feature report of the
ABS-CBN, as carried by its website:
Excerpts: "We don’t hear the rage of people marching to the streets, smashing windows to protest the killings. There’s no rage, but we hear the whimper, the cry in some corners of some mothers and fathers, wives and children who lost their loved ones to the war against drugs..."
https://news.abs-cbn.com/war-on-drugs?fbclid=IwAR0BzKM_7DlRQaeAVOph7p49ZwmhSWIaibZ4NmYShnk6YiX_gOxRUihSFzo#.WBcAh6YuQaq.facebook
INTRODUCTION
TO describe as disappointing and exasperating the rising but unabated incidents of extrajudicial killings (EJKs) in the first two years of the government of Rodrigo Duterte, 2016-2018, is an understatement. They are revolting. They could make one’s blood boil. We feel moral outrage. We are angry at the death of thousands, who, on suspicion of being drug users and pushers, were killed by police officers and masked anti-drug vigilantes without the benefit of being heard and covered by the legal processes. I have no choice but to take a stand. I have to take the bull by its horns. I may not stop the police officers and vigilantes from downing drug users and pushers in the worst ever spate of murder committed in the name of war on drugs, but it pays to discuss, document, and put them into perspective and context, and record them for history and posterity. If only our pens and collective will could stop the EJKs.
This book is an attempt to record the bloody but failed war on drugs of the Duterte government.
This book is premised on the belief that God’s fifth (or sixth) commandment forbids direct and intentional killing and considers it sinful. The murderer and persons, who cooperate in acts of murder, commit a sin that cries out to heaven for vengeance. Life is sacred. God alone gives life. No person has the right to take it arbitrarily from another person. This commandment is present in all religions, assuming different forms but leading to a single and same conclusion.
This book is aptly titled “Kill, Kill, Kill” if only to emphasize the destructive element of human thought, which is to kill and maim fellow humans. It is subtitled “Extrajudicial Killings in the Philippines” mainly to drive its main point and content, which is the spate of EJKs during the ill-fated war on drugs. The incontrovertible and wanton destruction of human lives during the war on drugs was the single driving force that has led us to write this book. We have derived strength from the realization that by documenting this failed war on drugs, no similar episode would ever recur in history.
Finally, the second subtitle: “Crimes Against Humanity against Duterte et. al. at the ICC” focuses not just on the narratives of EJKs that occurred during this dark episode of the political history of the Philippines, but also to the charges of crimes against humanity, which have been brought against Rodrigo Duterte and his cohorts at the International Criminal Court (ICC). It puts the issue of EJKs under the Duterte government within the context of the evolving international criminal justice system. This was an issue that had escaped the knowledge of Duterte and his subalterns, who were deeply involved in his war in drugs. They never knew or – had to refuse to acknowledge – the evolving international criminal justice system. It is accurate to point out that Duterte’s war on drugs was a function of his monumental ignorance of the evolving international criminal law. It was his undoing.
The first chapter of this book discusses the national situation shortly before the presidential elections of 2016, but explains as well the unfolding biggest political swindle in the history of the Philippines. In a twist of irony, his political handlers presented Duterte as somewhat a “man of destiny,” who was to deliver us from the clutches of political and economic deterioration caused by what they considered the scourge of the “worsening” drug problem. He was presented as a “miracle worker,” who did things – mostly not-so-great - to confer Davao City international recognition. Little did the Filipino people know they were about to see and elect somebody, who did not only have a criminal mind, but a political figure, who was actually a criminal, as this was to be gleaned from the testimonies of his closest cohorts, who later turned against him.
Duterte had the destiny to get elected to the highest political post, but his victory in 2016 did not mean that the voters acclaimed him as a man of destiny. Duterte was not subjected to a thorough vetting process in a democracy like ours. His political handlers succeeded to present him as what the people wanted to see and hear, but he neither possessed the qualification nor had the vision to lead the country. Duterte was a fraud and the Filipino people were victims of the grand larceny and conspiracy perpetrated by Duterte and his political handlers against them
Chapter 1 discusses the involvement of the Philippine National Police (PNP) as an integral part in the war on drugs. The blame should and could be laid straight on the shoulders of the PNP officer corps, who allowed the PNP to assume the role as the main instrument of oppression in what could be regarded as a wholesale transgression of the constitutional rights of EJK victims, targets and their families. In the war on drugs, these PNP officials could have just ignored or refused to acknowledge the constitutional precept in the presumption of innocence. It would appear those EJK victims were presumed guilty and the PNP meted out the death sentence on them – all in preserving national security and saving the nation from the ill effects of drugs.
While the blame could be heaped on the PNP for allowing itself as an institution to become Duterte’s tool in his war on drugs, credit goes to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for its steadfast refusal to join his war. The officer corps refused invitation by Duerte to join his war, probably feeling it was to fail anyway and that Duterte was not to be trusted because his mental faculties were not intact and functioning properly. The AFP agreed to meet Duterte in the middle by claiming it was prepared to give him intelligence information. But that was the only thing the AFP could contribute to the war on drugs. It was not known how much intelligence information the AFP gave to Duterte’s war.
The war on drugs was a big mess. Chapter 2 discusses various narratives of EJKs. While most police officers involved in the bloody war on drugs used their weapons to kill helpless and powerless people suspected of involvement in drug trade – and they did so with flying colors, they hardly left the crime scene without the usual mess to clear them of wrongdoings. There was a certain uniformity in the use of state violence on every EJK victim and the unabashed use of the “nanlaban” (he fought back) narrative to justify the excessive use of violence for their deaths. Each EJK is a sui generis, a case in itself. But they were too numerous to discuss in a single chapter of a book.
Chapter 3 discusses the ICC as a global institution devoted and committed to the evolution of international law, in general, and the international criminal justice system, in particular. This chapter discusses the seminal ideas that has led to the evolution of an international criminal tribunal from a mere afterthought at the end of the Second World War to a global reality. It briefly discusses the Nuremberg Trials and the Tokyo Trials at the aftermath of the Second World War and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) that saw the arrest and trial of Slobodan Milosevic, a tyrant who was accused of ethnic cleansing” in the Balkan.
Even ranking Filipino political leaders did not know how to stop Duterte from his deadly war on drugs. They knew it was illegal to skip the legal processes and kill suspected drug pushers and users, but they felt pitifully helpless as they were left with the thought that Duterte had a political mandate to pursue his war on drugs without any moral compunction or guilt. It was a longshot to dwell on it until an unnamed European parliamentarian tipped off Antonio Trillanes IV, then an opposition senator, on what to do to oppose Duterte. Chapter 4 discusses the genesis of the first ever charges of crimes against humanity against an incumbent Filipino president and his cohorts before an international forum. It includes discussions of the antecedents that have led to its filing before the ICC.
Chapter 5 talks about the filing of the first information against Duterte and his cohorts before the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC. It discusses details of the first information. Chapter 6, meanwhile, comes out with the second and other information that have been submitted to the ICC to bolster and strengthen the claim that Duterte and his cohorts were indeed involved in the bloody but failed war on drugs. The series of information has led the global body to firm up its initial findings that Duterte and his subalterns were indeed involved and responsible in the series of EJKs initiated by police and vigilante forces nationwide.
Rodrigo Duterte’s luck seemed to have ended when one of his closest assassins, SPO3 Arturo Lascanas did not only leave the country to escape his wrath, but spilled the beans on his deadly operations by issuing the 188-page affidavit against him and the Davao Death Squad (DDS). It was an insider’s confessions, which could be most devastating against the former mayor of Davao City and his cohorts. Chapter 7 contains many damaging details which Lascanas has revealed for the first time. The affidavit is among the pieces of evidence which is now in the possession of the ICC. It will be most likely used against him as the ICC has elevated the status of “fomal investigation” the charges of crimes against humanity against Duterte and his ilk.
Meanwhile, Chapter 8 focuses on the legal issues confronting the issue of Duterte’s unilateral decision for the Philippines to withdraw its membership from the Rome Statute, the multilateral treaty that creates the ICC. More than anything else, it talks about the High Court’s landmark decision on the extent of the presidential powers on treaties and executive agreements.
Chapter 9 discusses the case of Leila de Lima, the senator and public official, who was harassed, persecuted, and imprisoned for more than six years by Rodrigo Duterte. It is a chapter fully devoted to the details of Leila de Lima’s case, its twists and turns, and her potential role as a lawyer of the families of EJK victims in the pursuit of justice against Duterte and his ilk.
Chapter 10 discusses the July 18, 2023 decision of the Appeals Chamber of the ICC. With the decision, there is no more legal impediment to start the formal investigation as authorized by the ICC. It proposes the adoption of a policy of indemnification, where families of EJK victims are indemnified for the loss of their family members. Finally, this chapter, as an endgame, advances the adoption of an international treaty on crimes against humanity. While the internatinal community now has the treaty on war crimes and genocide, it does not have any treaty on crimes against humanity.
Chapter 11 talks about what could be expected of the formal investigation, the likely scenarios, and the end of the complicated process. It raises the possibility of Duterte seeking political asylum in China and becoming a political refugee there. Or his conviction and eventual imprisonment becomes a reality. Duterte faces more troubles with his war on drugs. Crime does not pay, so the old adage goes.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Writing a book is a lonely endeavor. It involves long stretches of research, data analysis, and validation, and interviews of persons and parties, who have been directly and indirectly affected by the subject matter. It means long hours of writing, writing, and writing, and rewriting, rewriting, and rewriting to get the desired effects in context and prose. But it can be most rewarding especially when the written work is a product of the author’s inspired efforts with the help of outside persons, who share similar passion as the author’s.
Allow me to express my gratitude to Joel Sarmenta, an associate of the late Chito Gascon, who was once the chair of the Commission on Human Right (CHR). Joel, who once worked as CHR communications consultant, gave valuable leads and suggestions in the preparation of narratives of the victims of extrajudicial killings (EJKs). Joel, also an academic, gave me access to EJK records, which he has kept in his personal files. Moreover, Joel facilitated interviews with resource persons and families of EJKs victims. On various occasions, I had exchanges of views with Joel and they were important to synthesize my views on Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs.
I am also grateful to fellow opinion writers and newspaper colleagues Dante Zamora, Mackoy Villaroman, Bobot Fradejas, Val Villanueva, and Clift Daluz, who did not only give me valuable advice and inputs for this book but amused me with their worldy jokes, especially when I felt pressured. Indefatigable democratic activist Alab Cruz facilitated inputs especially on the issue of Sen. Leila de Lima’s imprisonment. My friends Ernie Hiansen and Eddie Nuque gave me valuable advice.
Thanks to Miller Achurra, who did the layout, cover design, and graphic artwork.
Last but most important is my special friend, Ms. Teri “T”, whose persevering presence and guidance has enabled me to complete the task to document Duterte’s bloody but failed war on drugs. To her, I dedicate this book. Despite the great distance between us (she is based in New York City), she was always present, as if she was beside me whenever I write and work.
To these people, my appreciation and gratitude.
Philip M. Lustre Jr.
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