BREAKING: Former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte arrested for crimes against humanity

 


The arrest of Rodrigo Duterte, who served as President of the Philippines between 2016 and 2022, for crimes against humanity for his part in the country’s violent “war on drugs” is a welcome blow against impunity. Duterte was arrested on 11th March by Interpol, which was carrying out an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) charging him with crimes against humanity.

It’s a step, at least, towards justice for the families of the victims of thousands of extrajudicial killings – maybe tens of thousands. Nobody knows exactly how many.

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte attends the House Quad Committee hearing investigating his administration’s war on drugs, at the House of Representatives, in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines, on 13th November, 2024. PICTURE: Reuters/Lisa Marie David/ File photo

A key part of Duterte’s campaign platform when he ran for president in 2016 was to combat what he called “the drug menace”. During his previous 22 years as the mayor of Davao city in the province of Mindanao in the southern Philippines, he had operated a similar policy.

Essay: Former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte arrested for crimes against humanity – a blow against impunity

The arrest of Rodrigo Duterte, who served as President of the Philippines between 2016 and 2022, for crimes against humanity for his part in the country’s violent “war on drugs” is a welcome blow against impunity. Duterte was arrested on 11th March by Interpol, which was carrying out an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) charging him with crimes against humanity.

It’s a step, at least, towards justice for the families of the victims of thousands of extrajudicial killings – maybe tens of thousands. Nobody knows exactly how many.

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte attends the House Quad Committee hearing investigating his administration’s war on drugs, at the House of Representatives, in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines, on 13th November, 2024.

A key part of Duterte’s campaign platform when he ran for president in 2016 was to combat what he called “the drug menace”. During his previous 22 years as the mayor of Davao city in the province of Mindanao in the southern Philippines, he had operated a similar policy.

“It’s a step, at least, towards justice for the families of the victims of thousands of extrajudicial killings – maybe tens of thousands. Nobody knows exactly how many.”

The 1,040 deaths during his war on drugs there became the subject of an excellent 109-page report by the pressure group Human Rights Watch: “You Can Die Any Time”: Death Squad Killings in Mindanao.

Duterte never shied away from that notoriety. His policy of running death squads from the presidential palace resulted in violence on a scale that shocked the world. But he wasn’t reinventing the wheel. When he was mayor of Davao, his right-hand men included many of the same characters who then oversaw the national drug war (Operation Tokhang).

Orgy of violence

The drug war escalated quickly from Manila and came to consume the whole country. At first, victims’ bodies would be left with a sign which claimed they were a drug pusher or user. Eventually, those signs disappeared and the victims were just left for dead.

Then the police became brazen. A “shoot first – ask question later” policy accelerated to the point where vendettas and vigilante assassination had the perfect cover to get away with murder on an industrial scale. Suspected police corruption or downright disregard for the law was caught on security camera and published in the media.

It was hoped by many citizens that the sentencing of three police officers to 40 years in prison in 2017 for killing of 17-year-old Kian Loyd delos Santos signalled an end to impunity in the Philippines. But, this remains the only case of police accountability. And the guilty verdict was reached largely because CCTV footage refuted police attempts to cover up their part in the murder.

Thousands of people disappeared – children too – all caught up in the vigilante violence that the state had instigated but couldn’t contain. Activists, dissidents, journalists, lawyers and clergy were also increasingly targeted during the drug war. Many of the murders were barely investigated, if at all. Motorcycle assassinations by gunmen riding pillion became a scourge – and evidence proved hard to come by.

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