AUTHOR'S Notes: This is the last of the two parts of Chapter 4, which is all about the first information submitted to the ICC. This crucial because it appears that the first information has enabled to convince the ICC to conduct preliminary investigation on the reported mass murders committed by the Rodrigo Duterte government.
VITAL
WITNESSES
AS former insiders of Duterte's liquidation squad, PO3 Arturo Lascanas and Edgar Matobato could provide the most intimate details about its operations, which Duterte had brought to the national scene. Matobato was the triggerman, who went into voluntary exit after determining he could be liquidated because he knew too much as a DDS member. Lascanas, who functioned both as pay and taskmaster, also went out because his conscience could no longer take the evil nature of his job. The first information saw fit that the two insiders should be taken seriously because of the magnitude of their testimonies against Duterte and his henchmen. They are vital witnesses if ever the issue against Duterte would be brought to the international forum. Moreover, their credibility as insiders is important and unassailable to validate Duterte’s evil ways in the international forum, which is the International Criminal Court.
Sometime in 2014, after he survived attempts by Duterte’s minions to kidnap and get rid of him, Matobato was tortured and locked up in jail and forced by his former colleagues to admit he murdered Richard King, a businessman, on order of Senior Superintendent Leonardo Felonia, the “mastermind,” the first information said. Matobato refused to admit to a crime that he allegedly did not commit, it said. He was released on June 30, 2014 after he posted bail of P2,000 for the crime that he allegedly did not commit.
Days after his release, his fellow DDS assassins picked him up from his residence, detained him elsewhere anew, and tortured him. It was a good thing, according to the information, that companion Joselita Abarquez and Eduardo Matobato, an uncle who was a Davao police officer, intervened prompting his captors to release him. It was at this point that Matobato resolved he would spill the beans and tell everything in public what he knew about the DDS. He hid after the incident and went to the Department of Justice. After he gave his 2014 statement to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), he was taken in under the DoJ’s Witness Protection Program (WPP). But something happened in 2016, while he was in the WPP custody. For precision, the information said:
“Interestingly… a certain Atty. Gregorio Andolana, who had some other legal matter to attend to at the WPP, met Matobato. Atty. Andolana offered his legal services for Matobato and prepared a Judicial Affidavit, specifically in relation to the torture, which was subscribed by Matobato on 12 January 2016. But later, Atty. Andolana told Matobato that President Duterte had requested his name and that of his son, Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte, to be deleted from his Judicial Affidavit, saying that ‘bahala na ang mga pulis sa buhay nila’ (it’s up to the police about their life). Atty. Andolana quoted President Duterte as saying ‘ako na bahala sa kanya’ (I'll take care of him), referring to Matobato.”
Matobato refused Andolana’s “indecent proposal” and destroyed his SIM card so that the latter would not reach the former, according to the fact-rich information. It reached what was said to be “failure of communications” between them, prompting Andolana to withdraw as his counsel in the Oct. 4, 2016 arraignment of his court case. Since then, he did not have a lawyer. The information said:
“Matobato was continuously under the WPP until in May 2016 when it became clear that President Duterte was on the verge of Presidential victory, making Matobato realize that he would no longer be safe in the Witness Protection Program (WPP), since the said agency is under the Department of Justice (DOJ), which would soon be headed by Duterte’s political appointee. Upon the advice also of concerned officials of the WPP, he decided to voluntarily leave the WPP. After his exit from the WPP, several religious personalities provided him sanctuary. Ironically, the starting point for the relay was in Cagayan de Oro City where the author of this communication comes from.”
A Mindanao prelate referred Matobato’s urgent need for sanctuary and it led to a process that involved several priests until it reached Fr. Alberto Alejo, a Jesuit priest, who brought Matobato to Sen. Leila de Lima, who worked closely with Antonio Trillanes IV on the Senate inquiry on the spate of EJKs, the information said. The information revealed the unreliable and spineless Aquilino Pimentel III, who was then the Senate president, refused to give protective custody to Matobato. It said:
“Despite the collective judgment of the priests that Matobato was telling the truth, which at that time was not publicly known, Senate President Aquilino ‘Koko’ Pimentel III, on 15 September 2016 when Matobato first testified, refused Senate protective custody to Matobato. This refusal came amid the heels of Senator Pimentel's knowledge that early on, Matobato had been placed under the WPP for much-needed protection. This constrained Senator Trillanes, in his capacity as a Senator, to provide security to Matobato.“
From Matobato’s narrative given by the information, it could be deduced that whistleblowers, especially the poor and powerless, face a difficult situation, arising from lack of protection from the government to loss of wherewithal and means to support themselves while engaged in the struggle for their causes. Moreover, the changing political fortunes could lead to loss of protection. This happened to Matobato, when Duterte became president. He had to leave the WPP program because he had to protect himself from the government led by Duterte.
“It is safe to say, too, that judging from Atty. Andolana's previous indecent proposal on behalf of President Rodrigo R. Duterte, it would not be too far-fetched to imagine that President Rodrigo R. Duterte would have found ways and means to silence Matobato forever while he was in the WPP. He could now use his immense presidential power and resources at his disposal to prevail upon Matobato not to expose what he knows, or at the very least just delete his name and that of his son Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte from the adverse statement; and if Matobato would still refuse an offer that he could not refuse, President Rodrigo R. Duterte would, in all likelihood, can have Matobato killed, using the police and NBI in a familiar scenario where Matobato would be portrayed, in a police frame-up, as having attempted to grab the sidearm of a policeman, which is a usual police trick.”
The first information described Lascanas as “the second Matobato” simply because he had confirmed Matobato’s claim on the official existence of DDS as a group created by Duterte to kill people upon the latter’s orders. Lascanas revealed the extent of Duterte’s involvement in the DDS operations. Hence, he and Matobato would be the insiders, who could give important credible testimonies to bolster the claim of EJKs in the Philippines.
NOT CONVERSION. If we follow the logic of some senators, Lascanas came out in the open to denounce the EJKs, which he himself had participated in mainly for another reason. He did not come out because of his spiritual renewal or awakening, the senators acclaimed. He came out because of disillusionment caused by his failure to broker four deals with the government, they insisted. Except for Gordon, who denied EJKs and the DDS existence and, ergo, did not attend the public hearing even though is a member of the Lacson committee, those senators did not in any way deny those EJKs and the DDS. They were more interested to demolish Lascanas's credibility, as they noted his conflicting statements and his own religious conversion of sort. Granting that he did come out in the open to get even because he was not given a chance to complete those deals, it behooved the public to realize the actual occurrence of EJKs and existence of DDS. They are part of historical reality.
This was a historical reality that the senators could not turn their backs, even as they continued pounding on the veracity of Lascanas's religious awakening. His conversion or renewal did not happen overnight. As Christian leaders have said, conversion is a process. Cleansing oneself of all the sins of the world is a daily continuing struggle. What a spiritual awakening immediately establishes is the recognition of these sins. It allows the human conscience to speak louder. Hence; it brings out remorse to the point when one sins again, his conscience runs after him. A Christian leader said that even Apostle Peter, a converted man, denied Jesus, not once, but thrice. Yet, Jesus did not condemn Peter; he named him his Chief Apostle to rebuild his ministry into a spiritual movement, which exists until today. Jesus acknowledged that Peter lied because he was under duress. What's more of Lascanas?
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CRIMINAL MIND
The first information did not lose sight to discuss Duterte’s mental state, giving a succinct description of his what could be regarded a criminal mind. He liked to issue threats and intimidate people and he did them even in his public addresses. In what could be considered a description of his criminal mind, the information said:
“President Duterte, as then Mayor, did not threaten to bring suspected criminals to justice by using the full force of the law to arrest, investigate, prosecute and imprison them. He did not couch his serious threat in a language that reflects an abiding respect for the sanctity of human life, due process and rule of law. He did not threaten that way. What he uttered in public is a serious threat TO KILL, nothing more, nothing less. He did not even threaten to just cause bodily harm. He did not also say that the police should kill criminals in self-defense. His public threat to suspected criminals is so simple, that is, “I WILL KILL YOU”. As borne out by records, President Duterte, as then Mayor, as presidential candidate and even as President, would keep on repeating this serious threat TO KILL which is punishable as a crime under the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines.”
The information further reinforced Duterte’s criminal mind, saying:
“Even before becoming an official candidate for President, Rodrigo Duterte already revealed his mental state when he publicly said: ‘If by chance that God will place me there, watch out because the 1,000 [people allegedly executed while Duterte was mayor of Davao City] will become 100,000. You will see the fish in Manila Bay getting fat. That is where I will dump you.’
“In fact, President Duterte embarked on a nationwide campaign based on a centerpiece platform to embark on a nationwide killing campaign against drug dealers and drug users. During a campaign rally on 15 March 2016, he announced: ‘When I become president, I will order the police to find those people [dealing or using drugs] and kill them. The funeral parlors will be packed.’”
It continued to elicit the view his feeling of invincibility in the following sense:
“Indeed, his mental state reveals his material awareness or personal knowledge of the following, namely: (1) he knows of the Davao Death Squad and the murders committed under it through his orders, (2) he knows that the killings under the Davao Death Squad were made by him in order to kill suspected criminals, (3) he knows that the killings under the Davao Death Squad are the “best practice” for crime control, (4) he knows that his threats to kill drug dealers and addicts once he becomes President are real and will be carried out just like before in the thousands of persons killed in Davao City under the Davao Death Squad, and (5) he knows that his ‘best practice’ while Mayor will be carried out now that he is already President, and (6) he knows that the extrajudicial executions in his war on drugs are part of such ‘best practice.’ At this juncture, it is very significant to note that in the Jun Pala murder, the mental state of President Duterte, as revealed in his public statement, that he knew the identity of the perpetrator turned out to be a mere expression of the fact that he was himself the perpetrator, as was later established as a fact by the witness testimony of Edgar Matobato and Arthur Lascañas.
“President Duterte’s mental state as revealed in his statement that he is the Davao Death Squad and that he killed a thousand in Davao City also later turned out to be just an expression of the fact about the Davao Death Squad and the more than a thousand extra-judicial executions undertaken under it, as later established to be a fact by the testimony of the two whistleblowers.”
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HEART OF THE ISSUE
After laying down elaborately the predicate, the first information gave the subject, or the heart of the issue, or the reasons Duterte should be charged with crimes against humanity before the ICC. It said that crimes against humanity could be one of the most serious concerns in the international community because they constitute direct attacks on civilian populations. It said that based on the established elements of crimes against humanity under international law, Rodrigo Duterte could face charges against humanity because there was commission of mass murder and Duterte was said to be behind them.. It said:
“Based on the Senate testimonies of Edgar Matobato and Arthur Lascañas, in conjunction with the earlier testimony in court of Ernesto Avasola, it is humbly submitted that these testimonies constitute proof beyond reasonable doubt that President Duterte, as Mayor of Davao City then, is the mastermind and leader of his Davao Death Squad and, thus, should be held accountable for the mass murder of more than a thousand nameless people in Davao City as well as the murders of specific persons identified by said witnesses committed under the Davao Death Squad. In particular, President Duterte should be made criminally liable for crimes against humanity committed by him ‘repeatedly, unchangingly and continuously’ as Mayor of Davao City after August 2011 under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
“As already established earlier, the continuation by President Duterte of his war on drugs at the national front, after he became the President, specifically the ‘best practice,’ strategy or system of killing suspected criminals through the Davao Death Squad in Davao City, makes him further criminally liable, under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court for the extra-judicial executions constituting crimes against humanity, particularly against suspected drug dealers and addicts in the war on drugs.”
As proof, the information cited separate reports of the Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, two independent civil organizations that protect human rights on global scale, the spate of EJKs committed by the Duterte government through the PNP and unidentified vigilante groups, forming its state-sponsored nature. It said:
“Both reports of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch cited the grim statistics of not less than 7,000 drug related killings, which was also cited in the recent Resolution of the European Parliament. Indeed, as of February, thousands of Filipinos have been killed in President Duterte’s war on illegal drugs. Exactly how many is hard to tell, as the figures given by the police differ from time to time.”
The first gave the second element of the crimes against humanity charges, saying the killing sprees of EJKs, which Duterte relentlessly did, were directed against the civilian population, mostly the poor. It said:
“Official statistics from the Philippine National Police and as cited in the recent reports of the Human Rights Watch and the Amnesty International, the official body count is more than 7,000 drug-related killings in President Duterte’s war on drugs for the period from July 2016 up to 21 January 2017. The scale of the extra-judicial executions is widespread or systematic, especially if we look at the ‘repeated, unchanging and continuing’ extra-judicial executions of those persons already killed in Davao City under the ‘best practice’ implemented by President Duterte as a Mayor through his Davao Death Squad, which, based on reliable estimate, reached not less than 1,400 deaths. Verily, the extrajudicial executions in the current war on drugs at the national level and also in Davao City, have been carried out “repeatedly, unchangingly and continuously” with the same unrelenting impunity and in a massive scale. Based on this massive scale of killings, the extra-judicial executions or murders are unmistakably and undeniably widespread or systematic.”
Just to continue, the first information gave this hypothetical situation and it is worth examining:
“It would have been different if President Duterte, as then Mayor, did not have a Davao Death Squad or did not implement the ‘best practice’ of killing suspected criminals and later became the President of the Philippines. In that hypothetical situation, the ‘best practice’ would have to be recommended to him, and in turn, he would have to study and examine the ‘best practice’ and later make a decision to adopt and implement it in his war on drugs, just like then President Gloria Arroyo to whom then Mayor Rodrigo Duterte recommended his ‘best practice’ of killing suspected criminals. In this hypothetical situation, it would be extremely necessary to prove that President Duterte, in fact and in actuality, adopted and implemented the ‘best practice’ in his war on drugs as recommended to him.”
It concluded:
“But the actual situation of President Duterte is far different from that hypothetical situation. In his case, the existence and the mass murders undertaken under his Davao Death Squad are proven as a fact by proof beyond reasonable doubt through the testimony of Edgar Matobato and Arthur Lascañas. In point of fact, President Duterte actually established, operated and managed his Davao Death Squad in Davao City when he was the Mayor. The ‘best practice’ being referred to by President Duterte, or the strategy or system of killing suspected criminals in Davao City, is already proven as a fact by their testimonies. As announced by Senator Antonio Trillanes on media, six or seven more witnesses, some of whom are policemen like Arthur Lascañas, and some lower than or of the same level as Edgar Matobato, will even be coming out to further corroborate the testimonies of Edgar Matobato and Arthur Lascañas, all the more bolstering such proof.”
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ELEMENTS OF CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
THE first information aptly gave the elements that connote to the crimes against humanity charges. It cited Article 7, Paragraphs 1a of the Rome Statute, which says the elements include: first, the perpetrator killed one or more persons; second, the conduct was part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population; and third, the perpetrator knew that the attack that it was against a civilian population.
On the first element, the first information gave as proofs the earlier testimonies of Edgardo Matobato, PO3 Arturo Lascanas, and Ernesto Avasola. The first information also gave the 2017 separate reports of the Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, two global organizations that promote and protect human rights.
According to the first information, while the Human Rights Watch, in its report, said that many of the 24 cases it looked into, the official police claims in its reports differed from testimonies of the witnesses. It said:
“While the official police report would say that the victim fought back, witnesses would say that the police barged into their house and either took the victim, who was later found dead, or isolated the victim, who was later found dead, reportedly in a shootout.”
It continued to cite the case of Efren Morillo, who is the lone survivor of a summary execution carried out by four Quezon City police officers in antidrug operations sometime in August, 2016. The information said that Human Rights Watch reported that his four companions ‘were shot, execution-style, and died on the spot, but Morillo miraculously survived.’ Citing the report, the information said Morillo filed in court in January 2017 a writ of amparo and was granted. This was ‘to seek protection from the government and from police harassment and intimidation.’ He also sought suspension of Oplan Tokhang under the jurisdiction of Quezon City Police District 6 for the duration of the trial. This was not all, Morillo, in March, 2017, had to file an omnibus motion for reinvestigation at a metropolitan trial court. This was after he has been accused of direct assault, by the same police officers, whom Morillo had accused of frustrated murder.
On the second element, which said that the anti-drug attacks on civilians were conducted as part of a systematic attack on civilian population, the first information cited the separate testimonies of Matobato and Lascanas, who claimed that more than a thousand were killed by DDS elements in Davao City, when Duterte was the mayor of the southern port city. It said that the same approach was being applied on the national level, when Duterte became president in 2016. The first information said:
“By virtue of the clear intent of President Duterte to continue his ‘best practice,’ strategy or system this time in his war on drugs on the national level, it necessarily follows that the ‘best practice,’ strategy or system being implemented in Davao City is the very same ‘best practice,’ strategy or system that has since been ‘repeatedly, unchangingly and continuously’ implemented by way of continuation, in the war of drugs of President Duterte at the national level. Corollary, on account of the continuation of the ‘best practice,’ strategy or system at the national level, the extrajudicial executions happening since President Duterte assumed office on 30 June 2016 are simply part of the continuing mass murder implemented pursuant to the ‘best practice,’ strategy and system to eliminate or ‘erase’ criminals, particularly drug dealers and addicts, which began in Davao City through his Davao Death Squad.“
On the third element, the first information said Duterte knew that the war on drugs was essentially the same war that he had initiated in Davao but it was being implemented on the national scale. It said:
“Since the ‘best practice,’ strategy or system is merely being continued in the national scene in the war on drugs, President Duterte also knows about the extrajudicial executions happening since he assumed office. As further proof of the knowledge of President Duterte, Arthur Lascañas has further revealed that two active police officers were transferred by President Duterte from Davao City to Metro Manila to oversee, manage and operate the war on drugs as a continuation of his ‘best practice,’ strategy or system of killing suspected drug personalities to eradicate the drug menace. These two active police officers are Superintendent Edilberto Leonardo and Superintendent Royina Garma who are actually handling and overseeing the different DDS-style police operations in the war on drugs.”
It further said:
“Confronted with criticisms from human rights critics in the country and abroad, President Rodrigo Duterte hurled invectives and insults. Former President Barack Obama, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon and the European Union, to name a few, became the object of his insulting tirade. He even lashed out at the International Criminal Court, calling it ‘useless.’ In reacting to calls for a probe on the killings, President Duterte backed up the police, saying that he would even pardon them, reinstate them in the police service with rank promotion, if convicted. In the controversial murder of Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. inside prison, Duterte supported the police found to be involved in the murder, even if evidence pointed to his premeditated murder, as later found by a Senate inquiry. All these unusual and bitter reactions of President Duterte prove his complicity or acquiescence to the extra-judicial executions in his war on drugs.”
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DUTERTE’S CO-ACCUSED
RODRIGO Duterte did not act alone. He had his close confidantes as his accomplices in the bloody but failed war on drugs. This is exactly the reason the first information, which the camp of Antonio Trillanes IV and Gary Alejano had built up, has several names attached as his co-accused. They are: then Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre; then Philippine National Police Director General Ronald dela Rosa (now a senator); then House of Representatives Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez; then Interior Secretary Ismael Sueno, Solicitor General Jose Calida, Senators Richard Gordon and Alan Peter Cayetano, Police Superintendent Edilberto Leonardo, Senior Police Officer 4 Sanson "Sonny" Buenaventura, Police Superintendent Royina Garma (now head of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office), and National Bureau of Investigation Director Dante Gierran (now head of PhilHealth). It did not include Christopher Go, a flunkey who is now a senator. But it was a different story.
To establish the complicity of those public officials, the first information mentioned the grounds under the Rome Statute for their individual criminal responsibility. It cited the following provisions of Article 25 of the Rome Statute:
1. The Court shall have jurisdiction over natural persons pursuant to this Statute.
2. A person who commits a crime within the jurisdiction of the Court shall be individually responsible and liable for punishment in accordance with this Statute.
3. In accordance with this Statute, a person shall be criminally responsible and liable for punishment for a crime within the jurisdiction of the Court if that person:
a) Commits such a crime, whether as an individual, jointly with another or through another person, regardless of whether that other person is criminally responsible;
b) Orders, solicits or induces the commission of such a crime which in fact occurs or is attempted;
c) Crime, aids, abets or otherwise assists in its commission or its attempted commission, including providing the means for its commission;
d) In any other way contributes to the commission or attempted commission of such a crime by a group of persons acting with a common purpose. Such contribution shall be intentional and shall either:
1. Be made with the aim of furthering the criminal activity or criminal purpose of the group, where such activity or purpose involves the commission of a crime within the jurisdiction of the Court; or 2. Be made in the knowledge of the intention of the group to commit the crime;
As the Mayor of Davao, Rodrigo Duterte is sought to be investigated, tried and convicted before the International Criminal Court for the extra-judicial executions of more than 1,400 persons carried out by him through his Davao Death Squad in Davao City after August 2011, when the Philippines became a party state to the Rome Statute. Based on the testimony of Edgar Matobato and Arthur Lascañas, President Duterte as then Mayor has direct knowledge of and participation in the willful killings carried out by his Davao Death Squad with his order, permission and sanction. In fact, he has publicly admitted that he is the Davao Death Squad and that he killed not just 700, but 1700 persons.
The first information said it was seeking the investigation and prosecution of Duterte because of the death of more than 7,000 persons in his war on drugs. Moreover, it claimed that Duterte knew those EJKs, he was allegedly criminally liable. It said his failure to stop the mass violence makes him criminally responsible under the principle of “command responsibility.” He is liable under Article 28 (b) 180 of the Rome Statute for his failure to stop the PNP and the DILG from committing the crimes of murder, persecution, mental torture and imprisonment.
Moreover, his threats to kill and public incitement of the police forces and the public to mass murder and violence “make him directly criminally liable or responsible for crimes against humanity through murder.” It said:
“Under the Rome Statute, the President Duterte is liable under Article 25.3 (b), (c), and (d), for his public statements labelling drug users as criminals without the benefit of due process; for then calling on the police to kill these criminals; and for promising to pardon policemen who carry out his sweeping orders to kill drug users and dealers, regardless of the findings of other investigative government agencies, and even in case of conviction by local courts.”
For reasons of clarity, precision, and transparency, I will quote directly from the information concerning the complicity of the co-defendants. The first is Aguirre:
“Vitaliano Aguirre, a lawyer, is now the Secretary of the Department of Justice, which principally administers the criminal justice system in the Philippines. Under the Department of Justice is the National Bureau of Investigation which is mandated to investigate criminal incidents. As a fraternity brother and law school classmate of President Duterte, Secretary Aguirre was quoted as saying that drug addicts have no human rights because they are not humans. He said this in support of the war on drugs. This statement makes him criminally liable because he is contributing to the commission of the crime in any other way with the conscious aim of furthering the criminal purpose or activity of the death squads. He has knowledge of the intention of the death squads to commit extra-judicial executions because he was once the lawyer of Bienvenido Laud in the search warrant controversy involving the Laud quarry where the dead bodies of the victims of the Davao Death Squad were buried.
“Aguirre is liable under Article 25. 3 (d), for his public statement that drug users are not humans, knowing that the widespread and systematic killings of those labelled as drug users and dealers are already taking place; knowing that the labelling is being done without the benefit of due process; and knowing that many of those labelled are eventually killed, either in police operations or by unknown vigilantes.”
Next is dela Rosa:
“Police Director General Ronald dela Rosa, more popularly known as Bato dela Rosa, is the Chief of the Philippine National Police, which is under President Duterte. A trusted close subordinate, de la Rosa was previously the Chief of Police of Davao City when Rodrigo Duterte was still the Davao City Mayor. De la Rosa was tagged by Edgar Matobato and Arthur Lascañas for his participation in certain criminal incidents committed by the Davao Death Squad when President Duterte was still a Mayor. This goes to show that dela Rosa is knowledgeable about the Davao Death Squad and its criminal activities in Davao City. Yet, he has failed to stop its criminal activities, neither has he conducted any investigation on it.
“At certain occasions, as testified by Arthur Lascañas, dela Rosa has knowledge of the modus operandi of the Davao Death Squad and participated to cover up their criminal activities. In the war on drugs at the national level, dela Rosa knows about the activities of the death squads targeting suspected drug personalities. He knows these unlawful killings in his capacity as the PNP Chief, in which capacity he has reason to know Supt. Edilberto Leonardo and Supt. Royina Garma, the two active police officers tasked by President Duterte to manage, oversee and supervise the death squad operations in his war on drugs at the national level.
“PNP Chief dela Rosa is liable under Article 25.3 (b), (c), and (d), for his public statements supporting Oplan Tokhang, as well as for his orders given to specific policemen, not only to carry out Oplan Tokhang, but orders that also facilitated the commission of some of the murders of those in the drug watch list.”
It said that Pantaleon Alvarez, a former House speaker, was complicit too because of his public utterances. It said:
“Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez of the House of Representatives was quoted in media as saying in the Filipino, echoing the self-same mental state of President Duterte, namely; (1) “Pag may nakita ka na crime, nahuli mo in the act of committing a crime, anong gagawin mo? Patayin mo na lang yan” (“If you see a crime, you catch the person in the act of committing a crime, what will you do? Kill him.”); (2) “Kill na lang yan on sight when you commit a crime. Huwag na pahulihin yan,” (Just kill the person on sight. Don’t apprehend him anymore); (3) “May sira na ulo niyan. If you don’t agree with me, sabihin natin—yan ba kayang gawin ng taong matino? Grabe, walang awa tapos maawa tayo sa kaniya?” (“That person has a mental problem. If you don’t agree with me, let’s just say-is that what a right-minded person is capable of doing? He has no mercy, yet we show mercy to him”); and (4) “Try to feel yung magulang ng mga biktima. It’s easy for us to say due process, huwag mo patayin, it’s easy for us to say dahil hindi sa atin nangyari,” (“Try to feel the parents of the victim. It’s easy for us to say due process, don’t kill him, it’s easy for us to say that because it did not happen to us.”). These statements clearly incite violence and mass murder, or further in a certain way, fulfill the criminal purpose of President Duterte, which make Speaker Alvarez also criminally liable for crime against humanity through murder.”
Sueno’s name does not ring a bell, but the information said he was complicit too. It said:
“Former Interior and Local Government Secretary Ismael Sueno is liable also under Article 28 (b) for allowing the police and barangay officials — both of whom are under his administrative control — to carry out Oplan Tokhang, which led to the discrimination and vilification of those identified as drug users and dealers, and their eventual murder, persecution, mental torture, and incarceration. All of which are committed as part of Oplan Tokhang.”
OTHER PLAYERS. The discussions would not complete without mentioning the other public officials who abetted and supported Duterte’s war on drugs. Their roles could be minor or major but they nevertheless enviable roles supporting directly Duterte’s EJKs. It said:
“Police Superintendent Edilberto Leonardo, now assigned to the Manila Police District (MPD), formerly assigned to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (CIDU) of Police Regional Operations (PRO XI), is liable under Article 25.3 (b), (c), and (d), for helping design and operate the reward system for the war on drugs at the national level.
“Senior Police Officer 4 Sanson “Sonny” Buenaventura is liable under Article 25.3 (b), (c), and (d) for his role in facilitating the transfer of reward money to those who kill, as part of the implementation of the war on drugs, as well as his direct involvement in the Davao Death Squad in Davao City.
“Police Supt. Royina Garma is liable under Article 25. 3 (b), (c), and (d) for her violations in the implementation of Oplan Tokhang under her direction as head of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Region 7 (CIDG 7), as well as under Article 28 (b) for failing to stop the killings in her area of responsibility.
National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Dante Gierran is liable under Article 25. 3 (d) for failing to investigate the widespread and systematic killings happening under the Duterte administration, thus, facilitating the continued commission of the crime.
“Solicitor General Jose Calida is liable under Article 25.3 (d) for promising to defend policemen accused of summary killings if the killings were committed as part of the war on drugs, knowing fully well that the duty of the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to defend public officials begins at the appellate level, and not at the local courts. Such enthusiastic promise to defend possible wrongdoing echoes and backs up President Duterte’s statements promising exoneration for those who follow the latter’s orders to kill, thus, facilitating the commission of more murders.
“Senator Richard Gordon, as Chairman of the Committee on Justice and Human Rights and sponsor of Senate Committee Report No. 18 is also liable under Article 25 (d) for holding that there are extrajudicial killings committed by the Philippine National Police (PNP) operating under Duterte administration’s campaign against drugs but ultimately concluding that these killings are not state-sponsored, thus, ending the Senate investigations on these killings. His public pronouncements and his actuations as Chair of the Committee on Justice led to the white wash and abrupt termination of the Senate investigation on extra-judicial killings.
“Senator Alan Peter S. Cayetano, a close ally of President Duterte in the Senate of the Philippines, is liable under Article 25.3 (c) (d) for aiding and abetting the killings brought by the war on the drugs through his speeches and public pronouncements. Despite the increasing number of deaths due to the war on drugs, Senator Cayetano has been denying the existence of extra-judicial killings and encouraging Pres. Duterte’s “war on drugs.” According to him, because of the deaths of suspected criminals and drug users and pushers, the Filipino citizens feel safer now. Publicly defending and endorsing the deaths of suspected criminals and drug offenders, in various speeches, he noted that extra-judicial killings should be connected to ideology: “If the killing is not connected to an ideology, if the victim is not a labor leader, not a priest or nun, nor an activist, it's not an extrajudicial killing. It means if a pusher is killed, or if pushers killed each other, it's not an extra-judicial killing.” That being Duterte’s staunch ally and point man in the Senate, he schemed for the removal of Sen. De Lima as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights and replaced with another ally, Senator Richard Gordon, who subsequently whitewashed and thereafter abruptly terminated the investigation.”
FOOTNOTES
3. For a while, Rodrigo Duterte and Richard Gordon were political allies. But the break became pronounced and bitterly public when Gordon, in his capacity as chair of the Senate committee on public accountability (blue ribbon committee), led the Senate probe of the scandal that involved Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation, a small drug firm formed only 2019 with paid-up capital of only P625,000. Pharmally cornered nine contracts worth P8.6 billion to supply the government with allegedly overpriced medical supplies in connection with its campaign to rid the country of the pandemic caused by Covid-19. The people behind Pharmally were reputedly to have strong links to Duterte. Read: https://pcij.org/blog/2294/pharmally-other-firms-bagged-p65-billion-pandemic-supply-projects
https://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2021/9/14/Duterte-Michael-Yang-Acierto-PDEA.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmally_scandal
4.
Read: https://www.rappler.com/nation/149435-senate-committee-recommends-matobato-perjury-murder/
5.
On Matobato’s statement: https://edition.cnn.com/2016/12/29/asia/philippines-ex-duterte-death-squad-member/index.html
6.
Read: https://verafiles.org/articles/blue-ribbon-committee-becomes-comite-de-absuelto-trillanes
http://legacy.senate.gov.ph/press_release/2017/0905_trillanes1.asp
https://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2017/09/05/Gordon-ethics-case-Senate-Trillanes.html
7.
https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/148951-newspoint-santos-matobato-out-in-the-light/
Lascanas
claimed he used to receive an allowance of P100,000 per month aside from his
salary as a police office. This was on account of being sa DDS operative. But
he did not say this in his affidavit. This is second hand information, which
Fr. Alejo sa in a published report of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Please
read:
https://usa.inquirer.net/10002/visiting-priest-dont-forget-ejk-whistleblowers-matobato-lascanas
https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/227076-father-albert-alejo-crusade/
Trillanes and
Pacquiao exchanges on views: https://politics.com.ph/pacquiao-tries-hard-break-trillanes-charges-crimes-humanity-vs-duterte-no-avail/
Matobato and
Lascanas know each other
https://verafiles.org/articles/matobato-duterte-trusted-lascanas-case-icc-part-2
Lascanas
affidavit story by VeraFiles:
https://verafiles.org/articles/lascanas-superman-ordered-death-political-enemies-innocents