De Lima: Duterte Should Be Imprisoned for Drug War Killings

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MANILA, Philippines — Former Senator Leila de Lima reiterated on Monday that former President Rodrigo Duterte must be held accountable and imprisoned for his alleged crimes against humanity as the "instigator and inducer" of the extrajudicial killings during his antidrug campaign.


De Lima, speaking as a resource person before the House human rights panel investigating extrajudicial killings (EJKs) linked to Duterte's drug war, expressed her belief that it might be more prudent to await the findings of the International Criminal Court's Office of the Prosecutor (ICC-OTP) regarding Duterte and his associates, including former national police chief and now Senator Ronald dela Rosa.


“These killings represent a systematic attack on civilians and are classified as a crime against humanity under International Humanitarian Law,” De Lima stated. “For these crimes, both as mayor of Davao City and as President of the Philippines, Duterte should be prosecuted and convicted by the ICC and spend the rest of his life in prison.”


She emphasized that any investigation into the drug war must trace back to the origins and history of the Davao Death Squad (DDS) from its inception in 1998 up to 2016.


“The drug war from 2016 to 2022 is merely an extension of the DDS experience in Davao,” she asserted, claiming that the systematic EJKs in Davao City from 1998 to 2016 were replicated on a national scale when Duterte became president.

Before her tenure as senator, De Lima investigated the alleged DDS killings in Davao City while serving as head of the Commission on Human Rights. As a senator, she launched an inquiry into EJKs, which led to drug charges being filed against her, allegedly due to Duterte’s displeasure. She was eventually acquitted after being imprisoned for six years.


“The national drug war was modeled after the DDS system, which involved active Philippine National Police personnel in vigilante killings,” she said.


De Lima pointed out that police officers from Davao were reassigned to Metro Manila and other urban areas to establish "local DDS chapters in each city, facilitating the systematic identification and summary execution of targets, either in ‘nanlaban’ (resisting) operations or by vigilantes on motorcycles."


She lamented that while the ICC's investigation into drug war killings is ongoing, the Department of Justice has only “barely scratched the surface,” having investigated only 52 out of the thousands of EJK cases.


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