The government should ensure due process to victims of human rights violations in its operations against illegal drugs.

This was pointed out by Raul C. Pangalangan, former judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and trustee of the Stratbase Albert del Rosario Institute (ADRi).

“They who speak highly about this right to due process, I wish. though those same rights, have been given to the victims as well,” Pangalangan stressed.

His comment was aired following the last State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Duterte last July 16.

He explained during a recent Stratbase ADRi forum that SONA was made ”under the shadow of an international investigation of the human cost of the war on drugs.”

Duterte may face an ICC investigation on alleged human rights violations during his all-court war against illegal drugs.

“We all heard the President. He is not backing down on his draconian policies at all, openly taunting ICC investigators and even more significantly asking the Congress to pass a law to give the police and military free legal aid in what can presumably include charges connected with the anti-drug campaign.” Pangalangan lamented.

He noted that Duterte also cited during the SONA the 2016 award of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague which recognized the country’s claim over the West Philippine Sea (WPS) against China.

“Notice that the categorical affirmation of the triumph at the Hague early on in the speech was somehow diluted towards the end,” he said.

Shifting to the current pandemic, Pangalangan urged Filipinos to get together to get through the ongoing pandemic caused by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

“We’ve got the biggest crisis of all, the pandemic which threatens our health and our economy, but it is also an opportunity for well-meaning Filipinos to forge a solidarity unknown in ordinary time and possibly even if fleetingly bring forth the fictive nation that cuts across the lines of social class that divide us today,” he said.

Stratbase ADRi President Dindo Manhit also stressed during the forum the “need to mitigate the contingent and enduring consequences of this health crisis.”

“The President should have given the people a reality check and a clear direction for economic recovery in his final year in office, which were not evident in his final State of the Nation Address,” he said.