THE latest Human Rights Watch (HRW) report says Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte may be held responsible for the extrajudicial killings in his war on drugs, which has claimed the lives of about 7,000 people involved in the drug trade since he took office last July. HRW says these sanctions may be considered “crimes against humanity.”
Duterte fired back, arguing that there is no “humanity” to speak of when it comes to criminals involved in the drug menace.
“I never denied that I ordered the operation. I declared war. Bakit masama bang sabihing papatay ako ng tao para sa bayan ko? Is there a crime? It’s a warning to stop” Duterte said.
“As long as you continue to destroy my country, I will kill you!”
As The Filipino Channel’s daily newscast “Balitang America” reported, this news came as no surprise to kababayans in the United States.
Balitang America LA Correspondent Steve Angeles spoke to Fil-Ams who have mixed reactions to the report.
Fil-Am Community Leader Art Garcia said, “The problem is — the Duterte administration is still denying and basically discounting the Human Rights Watch. It’s the same with the Marcos administration who did not accept the human rights violations were prevalent in the Philippines but [were] proven in court.’
“Duterte is in denial. His other officials are in denial. And they won’t even allow the United Nations investigation in the Philippines. If he’s really open, let the United Nations do the proper thing and investigate what’s happening,” Garcia asserted.
Dondi Monzon is an activist who supported Duterte during the election. However, he expressed disappointment in the way Duterte has been fulfilling his campaign promise.
“I support Duterte because I want this drug problem to go away,” Monzon said, “but at the same time it is the method of getting rid of the drug problem [I have concerns about]. So if there are human rights violations, please stop it.”
On the other hand, U.S. Pinoys for Real Change in the Philippines (USPRCP) Chairperson Atty. Arnedo Valera, who specializes in International law and Human Rights shared his perspective in support of Duterte:
Human Rights Watch and other groups seem to be suffering from legal myopia in engaging into a political definition of “crimes against humanity”. Unlike other international crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity have not been codified in an international treaty. And thus their definition of crime vs humanity that they subscribe to reflects a weakness in customary international law and is problematic under international criminal law.
The Duterte government is facing a drug war of two kinds. First the war between the government forces vs drug lords, drug cartels , police scalawags , corrupt politicians engage in the drug trade including Senator De Lima . These are legimate police operations and our police and military under the Philippine Constitution are duty bound to enforce the law vs individuals and powerful groups who have created this drug menace that threatens the very existence of our nation and destroying the future of the next generation .
The second one is the war between and among drug lords vs drug cartels , vigilantes , police scalawags, corrupt politicians, all non state actors trying to kill and outdo each other to protect their territory and multi billion drug trade all over the world, and the Philippines is part of this international drug hub. And these has caused a number of killings including innocent bystanders and even children caught in the crossfire.
Hence if you attribute the 7,000 alleged killings ( using the abuse EJK term) to Pres. Duterte, the PNP and the military, then you destroy the valid notion of accountability of these non state actors and it will lead you to wrong conclusion.
There are no state sponsored killings under the Duterte Administration. There are no crimes against humanity under the 1945 London Charter,the Rome Statute, Article 7(1), the Statute of International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia , the Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for Ruanda under Art 3, the Statute of Special Court for Sierra Leone Article 2, the Law on Establishment of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Article 5.
Why did they not use the crimes against humanity doctrine in drug related wars and killings in Mexico, Columbia ,Guatemala, Honduras etc. where the civilian populations are caught in the crossfire and those killed, including women and children, are in exponential geometric proportions? They should stop becoming part of the narrative of political destabilizers, and at the end weakening the base of a legitimate national drug war.
It is a shame that they are allowing themselves as political pawns and are engaging in interference in the national criminal justice system of the Philippines and the democratic governance of our nation.
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
