As former President Rodrigo Duterte awaits his trial for reported crimes against humanity in the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Philippine Human Rights Information Center (PhilRights) reported its findings on the human rights violations of Duterte’s bloody war on drugs that landed him in The Hague in “Mula Hinagpis Hanggang Paglilitis: Findings of the 2017-2025 Documentation of Extrajudicial Killings and Other Human Rights Violations Committed Under the So-Called War on Drugs,” at the B Hotel in Quezon City, on September 18.
PhilRights’ investigations documented 262 cases of extrajudicial killings (EJKs), 105 of which were attributed to the police and 106 to unidentified assailants, with most of them being done in Tondo, Malabon, Caloocan, and San Jose del Monte. Two hundred and thirty-four victims worked in meager jobs and were considered the family breadwinners.
It concluded that 87 victims had never even done drugs and were killed to reach a quota under the “palit-ulo” scheme, and that the youngest victim of an illegal arrest was only four years old.
Moreover, it was also found that the police’s controversial “tokhang” operations resulted in multiple “frustrated” EJKs, forced disappearances, and illegal arrests.
On the ground with the victims
Leading the event were PhilRights Executive Director and Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) Chairperson Nymia Pimentel-Simbulan, PAHRA Secretary-General Edgardo Cabalitan, and Ateneo Human Rights Center Executive Director Atty. Nicolene Arcaina, who shared their expertise on the report’s findings and provided updates on Duterte’s ICC procedures.
Simbulan recounted stories of two individuals, under the aliases Lulu and JM, who are relatives of drug war victims. Lulu’s husband, a former drug user, was shot in the head by the police in Caloocan in 2018, with his family witnessing the act.
“The police arrived only to interrogate Lulu coldly as though her husband’s death [was] mere[ly] data,” she recalled.
JM, meanwhile, was once a supporter of Duterte’s drug war. However, in 2023, her husband was killed while having dinner, and her family soon faced warrantless raids and surveillance. They were even forced to sign a statement that cited neighborhood thugs as her late husband’s killers in front of the police.
Simbulan said incidents like these left families traumatized and feeling unsafe, oftentimes making them relive the moments in their heads. Hence, for the victims of the war on drugs, Duterte’s ICC arrest marks the first step toward justice.
“It represents redemption in the face of a state that chose prejudice over protection, reminding us that no one is above the law. Yet the fight does not end here,” she added.
A “culture of impunity”
The discussion highlighted that the drug war brought about effects worse than death alone—human rights were violated, victims’ families lived in fear, and state-sponsored violence was the norm for governance. These had all been marks of Duterte’s tenure as mayor of Davao, which then spread nationwide when he became President.
Cabalitan then lamented that “our domestic institutions, including the Department of Justice and courts, failed to provide accountability. This failure created a culture of impunity and forced [the] victims’ families to seek justice beyond our borders.”
He focused on the Manila Police District’s notoriety for falsely claiming slain suspects attacked the deployed policemen, and mentioned that victims came overwhelmingly from marginalized sectors, reinforcing accusations that the drug war was a “war on the poor.”
The ICC’s intervention would not have been necessary if the Philippine justice system had properly gone after crimes against humanity in the first place.
More to come
On September 23, the ICC confirmed that Duterte was charged with three counts of murder as crimes against humanity as an indirect co-perpetrator, accounting for 70 victims of various incidents from his time as Davao City Mayor and President of the Philippines.
Despite his arrest, his defense had already delayed proceedings.
The charges were publicized on the day they were supposed to be confirmed in a pre-trial hearing, but the confirmation of charges was postponed after Duterte’s counsel filed for an indefinite adjournment of proceedings on the basis that Duterte is not fit to stand trial, which the court is deliberating on.
In addition, Duterte also requested a temporary interim release, which has been opposed by the prosecution as a possible obstruction of court proceedings, which is also still being processed.
Apart from the delays, Arcaina mentioned several issues with the trial. The court is still deciding which victims of EJKs were part of the case, as the ICC received 303 applications to take part in the trial and be recognized as victims of the war on drugs.
The ICC’s charges are also just the tip of the iceberg, Arcaina said, as many crimes lie outside The Hague’s jurisdiction. “There were also a lot of cases falling out of the jurisdiction of the ICC after 2019. Tuloy-tuloy pa rin ang patayan… kailangan din ang gobyerno mag-investigate and prosecute ng mga kaso dito sa Pilipinas.”
(The killings still continue… the government needs to investigate and prosecute the cases here in the Philippines.)
Lastly, Arcaina called on the Philippines to rejoin the ICC and for the government to cooperate in order to bring justice to the victims of Duterte’s human rights violations.
