An empty tin can makes loud noise, and that was exactly what unlamented ex-president Rodrigo Duterte did when he landed at the hearing room of the Senate on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, and talked his way into self-incrimination and tagged his foot soldier and now Senator Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa, along with other ex-Philippine National Police (PNP) chiefs as being neck-deep into the “war on drugs,” which they all denied.
Yet, even the Associated Press (AP) reported his grandstanding at the Senate as akin to the return of a nightmare, neglecting to wade into the testimony itself and find out that Duterte actually rolled in his blanket of crap before the Senate Blue Ribbon committee. He did not make a clean breast of his role in his murderous frenzy from 2016 to 2022, telling the committee he was responsible for the “war on drugs” while insisting that he did not order the killings and that when cops kill drug suspects, they are personally liable. This is a clear case of the malignant narcissist in Duterte ordering thousands of hitmen, from the PNP or from freelancing hired guns, to kill with his full backing, only to retreat when shit hits the fan. What kind of idiocy is this? This proves that Duterte is scared shitless and has segued into a Pilate washing his hands.
The buck stops here, Harry S. Truman loves to say, and it is right at his Resolute Desk where it stops. Duterte doesn’t believe in it one bit and hides behind the legal theory that liability for crimes is always personal to avoid getting screwed with thousands of murder cases. There is no prescription for murder. With this personal liability principle, members of Duterte’s killing machinery will get their rewards but they will have to face the music, as the convicted killers of Kian de los Santos did. “Befehl ist Befehl,” the “order is an order” alibi to justify Nazi killings did not save German chief of staff Wilhelm Keitel from the gallows after the Nuremberg trial.
It is insane for journalists to regard Duterte’s Senate jaunt as the return of a strongman who would make people quake and cower in fear even as Duterte has to be propped up and guided. Only his crass language, the curses, and expletives, along with his hissy fits, remain. There is no power in his threats, but there is a clown out there “threatening” drug lords and criminals with death. For six years, Duterte failed to kill a single Chinese triad syndicate leader specialized in shabu production but his hitmen killed the Parojinogs and a number of mayors he deemed to be drug kingpins, the basis for which he got from shooting the breeze. Duterte is a rumor monger and his “matrices,” actually flow charts, are as shallow as his achievements while in Malacanang.
“If I’m given another chance, I’ll wipe all of you,” Duterte, 79, who wants to be Davao City mayor next year, warned drug dealers and criminals. He sounds like a broken record, not unlike Sara Duterte, who is actually Duterte Jr. but denied for the millionth time that he had authorized extrajudicial killings (EJKs) of drug suspects, saying there were no “state-sponsored killings.” But what are we supposed to make of the testimonies of retired Col. Royina Garma, retired Col. Edilberto Leonardo, Col. Jovie Espenido, the two PNP officers linked to the assassination of retired Brig. Gen. Wesley Barayuga, the confirmed allegations against Sens. Bato de la Rosa and Bong Go, and before all of these, the detailed affidavits of Edgar Matobato and retired policeman Arturo Lascanas? Add the accusations of Col. Eduardo Acierto that the Dutertes were smuggling shabu, and everyone would believe that Duterte hoodwinked the Filipino people. “I did what I had to do…I did it for my country,” he even bragged about the murders of 30,000 people on suspicion of being hooked on drug or selling shabu.
To complete the charade, Duterte tried to fool the Senate into believing that as mayor of Davao City, he maintained he kept a small “death squad” of gangsters whom he had ordered to eliminate other criminals. Calling them businessmen, Duterte shot the breeze again, and said his “untouchables” were only out to make the Davao business environment “attractive.” This is a confession against self-interest that should motivate the Department of Justice (DOJ) to reinvestigate all killings in Davao City committed by the Duterte Death Squad (DDS), including those whose remains were kicked by Duterte. Like the big fish being always snagged in its mouth, Duterte must be dreaming of flying pigs and birds with teeth as he fantasizes that he has power over life and death of his “subjects.”
Appalled by the brazen crudeness of Duterte, the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) denounced him on Oct. 31, 2024 for his uncivilized behavior. “The explosive declarations made by former president Duterte demand urgent accountability from the Marcos Jr. administration. The Philippine government must allow the International Criminal Court (ICC) access to the mountains of evidence of the bloody drug war and try the former president for crimes against humanity,” expressed Wong Chen, APHR board member and member of the Malaysia parliament. Kasit Piromya, APHR board member and former Thai MP, argued it was “alarming to see how former president Duterte admits, on multiple occasions, to instructing police officials in coaxing suspects to fight back to justify the killings.” Piromya, APHR Board Member and former member of the Thailand parliament.
Mercy Barends, APHR chairperson and Indonesian MP, said “the Senate must widen the scope of the inquiry to not only cover the drug war but also the EJKs and other related human rights violations.” Revoking the policies justifying the indiscriminate killings through the drug crackdown crafted by the former Duterte government is also critical. Charles Santiago, APHR co-chairperson and former member of the Malaysian parliament added: “There must be an impartial investigation to provide real justice – and this can only be made possible by allowing the ICC to investigate the case and take former president Duterte to court.”
