MANILA, Philippines — Lawyers for families of "war on drugs" victims welcomed the decision of the International Criminal Court on Friday to resume its investigation into the alleged abuses in the Philippines' bloody anti-narcotics campaign.
“Families of victims of extra-judicial killings (EJK) in the Philippines have long waited for justice. We started the process of filing a case of Crimes Against Humanity against President Rodrigo Duterte in 2018. However, we are happy to hear from the pre-trial chamber of the ICC that they have formally reopened their investigation into the war on drugs,” the statement from the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) on Friday read.
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NUPL members Neri Colmenares and Kristina Conti, counsels of families of victims of extra-judicial killings in the ICC case, signed the statement.
Colmenares added separatelythat while a resolution is long overdue, “at least (former president Rodrigo Duterte) and his subordinates cannot claim that they were not accorded due process.”
The international body’s Pre-Trial Chamber, a judicial branch under the ICC, gave its prosecutor the go-signal to reopen its inquiry into the deadly anti-illegal drugs operations conducted by police under the Duterte administration.
This directive comes after the international body found that the Philippine government’s own review of the perpetrators allegedly involved in the deadly “war on drugs” were limited to low-ranking personnel and domestic proceedings, warranting its separate probe from domestic proceedings.
With the ICC chamber clearing the way for the prosecutor to resume their investigation, the lawyer's group said that the families of the victims are willing to provide the court with information on drug-related cases from 2011 to 2019.
"At this point, even though there is fear and apprehension because those accused continue to not be held accountable, we will cooperate with the ICC because this is the fairest and most just opportunity to achieve justice for the victims," the statement read.
With the investigation returning full-swing, NUPL appealed to authorities involved in drug-related deaths to come out in the open and testify against those ultimately responsible.
"We are watching those who will seem to have 'galawang guilty' (guilty behavior) — lying, avoiding, finger-pointing, accusing, destroying evidence, threatening victims and witnesses," the lawyers said in Filipino.
ICC opens path for accountability
Human Rights Watch Deputy Asia Director Phil Robertson for his part said that the ICC investigation is “the only credible avenue for justice” for the victims of the “war on drugs” and will help identify those guilty of perpetrating crimes.
“As the court’s judges agreed, Philippine authorities are not 'undertaking relevant investigations' into these crimes or 'making a real or genuine effort' to carry these investigations out. The ICC offers a path forward to fill the accountability vacuum,” Robertson said.
NUPL also said the ICC’s resumed investigation should prompt President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. to allow prosecutors to freely conduct their investigation in the country.
Similarly, the ICC’s decision should “serve as a warning to the current regime for essentially continuing Duterte’s policies on the drug war,” said human rights alliance KARAPATAN.
KARAPATAN also said it hopes that the continued investigation will lead to the conviction and punishment of Duterte for “the deaths of thousands in his regime’s bloody anti-drug war.”
“With the help of international mechanisms provided by bodies like the ICC, we can make a dent on the culture of impunity that has stymied the quest for justice for so long,” the group added.
NUPL also called on Marcos to return the country’s membership to the ICC — a move that the president already thumbed down in August, deferring instead to the government's own proceedings.
Duterte in 2018 withdrew the country's membership to the ICC, which took effect in March 2019. This was after then-ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda began a preliminary examination of the thousands killed in anti-illegal drugs operations, but Duterte branded the move as an "outrageous" attack against him.
Government records show that at least 6,000 people were killed in police operations during the Duterte administration's six-year deadly "war on drugs," but the true number could be as high as 30,000, according to the estimates of human rights groups.