President Duterte’s primary legacy is the thousands of killings that happened during his term, former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said as the administration prepares for the last stretch before his final State of the Nation Address (SONA) next week.
In a statement posted on his official Facebook page, the former senator said the media should list down killing thousands as one of the “accomplishments” of the Duterte administration.
“In listing down Duterte's accomplishments, dapat isama palagi ng media ang libu-libong pinapatay nya, kasi pangunahin 'yun sa legacy nya (the media should include the thousands he had killed because that’s his primary legacy),” Trillanes added.
“Kahit ilang tulay pa ang ipagawa nya, hinding-hindi kaya matabunan noon ang mga kasamaang ginawa nya sa kapwa Pilipino (No matter how many bridges he builds, that will not cover up the evilness he did to his fellow Filipinos).”
Duterte will deliver his final SONA on Monday, July 26, and he’s expected to talk about the fulfillment of his campaign promises, as well as his other accomplishments over the past five years.
READ: SONA to spotlight Duterte’s legacy, plans for final year
But Trillanes was referring to the reported thousands killed in the name of his bloody war on drugs, a campaign promise that catapulted Duterte from Davao City mayor to Malacañang.
Government figures estimate that more than 6,000 people have been killed in police operations relating to the drug war or also called Oplan Tokhang. Human rights groups said the actual number is much higher—with some saying it’s close to 12,000—because many families of the victims did not file cases out of fear.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) said preliminary investigation found “reasonable basis” to believe that crime against humanity of murder was committed under the country’s anti-drug war by security forces.
READ: Duterte to run to Supreme Court if deprived of due process in drug war probe
Malacañang said it will not cooperate with the investigation because the ICC has no jurisdiction over domestic cases and that there is already an ongoing investigation into these killings.
But Trillanes maintained that filing a case against Duterte and his allies who perpetrated the killing of people mostly from urban poor communities will be his party’s priority.
In June 2017, Trillanes’ Magdalo Party filed a supplemental complaint against the Chief Executive at the ICC for violating the Articles of the Rome Statute through the commission of “mass murder or extrajudicial executions” constituting crimes against humanity.
The Philippines formally withdrew its membership from the ICC in March 2017, but experts said this will not affect Duterte’s liability for the offenses committed while the Philippines was still a signatory to the ICC.