Duterte’s drug war a sham — Trillanes

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV once again criticized the Duterte administration’s war on drugs, calling it a sham and meant only to strike fear in the hearts of the people to establish a dictatorship. 

While Trillanes has long been critical of President Duterte and his anti-illegal drug campaign in the country, this time around he brought the matter to the international stage, specifically the sidelines of the annual United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs meeting in Vienna, Austria.

Speaking at the “Human Rights Challenge: One Year Later, Drug War Extrajudicial Killings Continue,” one of the side events of the UN meeting last Thursday night, Trillanes talked about the number of killings that have taken place as part of the war on drugs, which he said the International Criminal Court (ICC) should be interested in looking at as part of its preliminary investigation into the complaint filed against Duterte.

The President has decided to withdraw the Philippines from the ICC where he is facing preliminary investigation over a complaint related to the thousands of people killed in the course of the drug war.

The event, sponsored by DRCNet Foundation of the United States and Forum Drogue of Italy, was the same one held last year where Vice President Leni Robredo’s video message generated widespread criticisms from officials and allies of the administration.

Last year’s event was called “Human Rights Challenge: Responding to Extrajudicial Killings in the Drug War” where Commission on Human Rights Chairman Jose Luis Gascon was also present.

In a presentation prepared by Trillanes for his talk, which was aired live on Facebook by the organizers, he cited official figures from the government that showed a total of 3,967 drug personalities killed during legitimate police operations and 16,355 homicide cases under investigation from the start of the Duterte presidency in July 2016 to end-December 2017.

Trillanes said the 20,322 deaths or extrajudicial killings cannot be disputed because these were released by the Office of the President itself as part of the accomplishments of the Department of the Interior and Local Government in its campaign against illegal drugs. 

“The biggest breakthrough in this document, in their hubris in reporting, they admitted there are no vigilante killings and so are in fact state-sponsored killings. Why else would you credit these as accomplishments?” Trillanes said.

He said it was clear from his own analysis and from “inside information” that the nationwide killings are all “part of Duterte’s diabolical plan to control every segment of society much like what he did when he was mayor of Davao City.”

“It is meant to strike fear in the hearts of the people so he could control and manipulate them,” he said.

Dictator’s handbook

Trillanes said various developments also appear to be “straight out of a dictator’s handbook,” citing the cases the administration has filed against members of the political opposition who have been critical of Duterte, including Sen. Leila de Lima and now Trillanes himself; the weakening of democratic institutions such as the Commission on Human Rights and the Office of the Ombudsman; the harassment of media outlets; undermining of the Catholic Church; declaration of martial law in Mindanao and the push to amend the 1987 Constitution.

“Truly there is a creeping dictatorship in the Philippines and Filipinos are helpless witnesses to this,” Trillanes said. 

But according to Trillanes, more and more of the Filipino people, particularly those who have opted to remain silent, would start to take a stand against Duterte.

“Filipinos may be timid and patient but we certainly know right from wrong and we do have a tipping point. Ultimately, as it should be in any functioning democracy, the fate of our country is in our hands. It’s a difficult battle but we certainly believe Duterte is one evil man and all evil tyrants have been struck down from their thrones eventually and suffered ignominious ends,” Trillanes said.

De Lima, who sent her message for the event, said only a handful of the killings are being investigated by the authorities.

She said the President refuses to see the issue of illegal drugs as a public health problem and urged the international community to continue with its condemnation of the administration’s war on drugs.

David Borden, executive director of DRCNet Foundation, noted how the video of Robredo in last year’s event was used to attack her politically.

He emphasized that his organization is still around and the Philippines now has even more champions against the Duterte administration’s war on drugs.

Marco Perduca, a former senator of Italy, said that events such as the one with Robredo last year and now with Trillanes have attracted the attention of international bodies such as those tied with the UN.

While there is no certainty that the ICC would actually pursue a formal investigation of Duterte, Perduca said what was clear was that their actions have somehow “touched a nerve.”