From defending President Duterte's war on drugs, former House speaker Pantaleon Alvarez now admits that "too many" people, mostly poor Filipinos, have died in the controversial anti-illegal drug campaign.
During an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC) on Tuesday, August 3, Alvarez said the Duterte administration could have handled the drug war better.
"Ang ayaw ko lang roon, 'yon bang marami ring nabiktimang naka-tsinelas (What I don't like about the drug war is that too many people wearing rubber slippers fell victims)," the incumbent Davao del Norte representative said, referring to the poor Filipinos killed in the numerous anti-drug operations by law enforcers.
"Para sa akin, pwede namang i-handle siguro 'yan nang hindi ganon ka-grabe 'yong approach (For me, the campaign could have been handled without such a violent approach)," he said, clarifying his position.
Alvarez said he does "not totally" agree with Duterte, who, on Monday, August 2, claimed that Filipinos "benefitted" from his anti-drug campaign.
"Dahil maraming namatay. Alam mo naman, s'yempre para sa ating Filipino, 'yong pamilya 'pag nawalan tayo, napakasakit no'n, eh (Because too many died. We all know that for Filpino families, of course, losing a loved one is really painful)," the former Duterte ally acknowledged.
When he was House speaker, Alvarez staunchly supported Duterte's campaign against illegal drugs, even touting it before other countries as worthy of emulation.
He also said that the spate of killings of drug suspects in poor communities, including teenagers, should not be blamed on the Duterte administration. Attributing the deaths to government was "ridiculous", he said then.
In 2017, the House of Representatives, under Alvarez' leadership, voted to cut the proposed 2018 budget of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to just P1,000 -- making good his vow to give the agency a measly budget for investigating human rights violations during the drug war.
He even called the constitutional body "useless".
Alvarez ended his alliance with Duterte after he was ousted as House speaker in 2018. Duterte said that his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, may have "maneuvered" Alvarez' ouster.
Since then, he has been criticizing Duterte, saying on Tuesday that he was "disappointed" with the administration's performance, specifically in handling the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Mahirap kasi...dahil I was part of the team, the administration. Mahirap naman magslita against doon sa kasama mo sa team. Pero now that I'm out, I can freely talk siguro on nakikita kong baka mabuti sa ating bansa (It's difficult to speak out because I was part of the team, the administration. It's hard to criticize your teammates. But now that I'm out, maybe I can freely talk on matters I think will benefit our country)," Alvarez explained.
"Kaya, again, babalik tayo doon sa pagpili natin ng tamang lider for 2022 (That's why, I'm going bakc to what I said that we need a better leader for 2022)," he added.
After quitting Duterte's political party, the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan, Alvarez joined the Partido Reporma, which supports the presidential bid of Senator Panfilo Lacson in next year's elections.