“I did what I had to do."
Thus, said former President Rodrigo Duterte as he defended his stance on his controversial drug war, stating that it was necessary to protect the country and the people.
Duterte further said he is taking full legal and moral responsibility for all the successes and failures of his administration’s campaign against anti-illegal drugs.
"Drug war, it is for the Filipino, to make a judgment," Duterte stated in an interview at the Senate on Monday, Oct. 28, before he was to testify at the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee's motu propio investigation on the anti-illegal drugs campaign during his administration.
It was going to be the first time he was appearing before any inquiry into the drugs war.
The Senate Blue Ribbon Subcommittee probe was led by Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III.
As he was set to meet with drug war victims, and was to even be seated near his political nemesis former Senator Leila De Lima, and senators critical of the bloody drug war, Duterte said that he was hoping to get fair treatment at the Senate probe.
In facing off with De Lima, he said: "I am here to make an accounting of what I did as President so walang problema (so there's no problem)."
Duterte failed to attend the House of Representatives' quad-committee (quad-comm) hearing last Tuesday, Oct. 22 where he was invited as a resource person.
The former chief executive begged off due to him "not feeling well", among other reasons. He did express willingness to attend a future quad-comm hearing "preferably after Nov. 1.”
Patients requiring medical help
According to Duterte, he has always viewed drug addicts as victims and patients requiring medical help, and not as criminals.
"I believe then, and I still believe now that rehabilitation and not fear of death or incarceration to be the key to the return of the addicted individuals back to the mainstream of a just and forgiving society," he added.
The former chief executive said that he offers no excuse or apology for the policies he implemented as president.
"I did what I had to do and whether you believe it or not, I did it for my country," he added.
Dutere also stated that the war on illegal drugs is not about killing people, it is about protecting the innocent and the defenseless.
"The war on drugs is about the eradication of illegal substances such as shabu, cocaine, heroin, marijuana, party drugs and the like as a menace which ruins people, families, communities and relationships and tears apart the social fabric which binds society together in peace, harmony and brotherhood," he said.
Duterte said that he had a drug rehabilitation facility constructed in Davao City, manned by Davao City government doctors, psychiatrists, nurses and health workers to look after the complete rehabilitation of those addicted to illegal drugs.
"But no mistake about it, I hate drugs, I loathe the purveyors, the merchants and the pushers of these demonizing element," he said.
In the middle of his statement, Duterte recalled that when he was a prosecutor, teaching at the police academy, he taught them that if a suspect has a gun and they feel like their life is in danger they should shoot the suspect.
"Barilin mo sa ulo, patayin mo, at least one less criminal in the community. Yun ang utos ko when I was a fiscal and I was a professor doon sa police academy (Shoot them in the head, kill them, at least one less criminal in the community. That was what I said when I was a fiscal and professor in the police academy)," he said.
"No quarters given, no quarters asked," he added.
Taking full responsibility
Duterte said that for all of the successes and shortcomings of the drug, he takes full legal responsibility.
"Sa lahat ng nagawa ng mga pulis pursuant to my order, ako ang managot at ako ang makulong huwag yung pulis na sumunod sa order ko, kawawa naman, nagtatrabaho lang (For everything the police have done pursuant to my order, I will take full responsibility and I'm the one who should be held accountable, not the police officer who followed my orders - it's unfair to them, they're just doing their job)," he said.
He said that his job as president was never easy, and it was not meant to be.
"I have tried to do the best I can to address the problem of illegal drugs firmly and without compromise," he added.
Nothing to be proud of
However, for opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros, the Filipino people will never be proud of the implementation of the Duterte administration’s war on drugs.
This is because, despite the “nanlaban” narrative of suspected drug users and pushers, Hontiveros said the previous government’s campaign against illegal drugs yielded 122 deaths of minors.
“Kung kampanya talaga ito laban sa droga, bakit tinatayang 122 na bata ang napatay kabilang ang isang taong gulang na sanggol na walang kamuwang-muwang? Nanlaban (If this was really an anti-drug campaign, why were an estimated 122 children killed including an innocent one-year-old baby? They resisted)?” Hontiveros pointed out in her opening statement.
For many of the drug war victims, Hontiveros said standing up for their rights is not easy.
“That is why during the height of the war on drugs in 2017, my office handled the case of Kian de los Santos and we interrogated witnesses to his murder - including minors,” she said.
“And to all those who say that the war on drugs is a punishment for those who lose their way, my message to you is this: there is no honor in punishment like tokhang. It should not be an honor to be called ‘The Punisher,’ when thousands of innocent people, including babies, have died in your name. Filipinos will never be proud of that war on drugs,” Hontiveros stressed.
Garma, Leonardo, Guban no-show at Senate probe
Meanwhile, retired police colonel Royina Garma, retired police colonel Edilberto Leonardo, former Customs bureau intelligence officer Jimmy Guban, and other personalities were absent during the Senate drug war probe.
This prompted Senate Blue Ribbon sub-committee chairman and Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III to issue a subpoena ad testificandum against Garma, Leonardo, and Guban to compel them to appear in the next scheduled hearing.
Pimentel made the motion to issue the subpoena after Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, an ally of Duterte, took offense at the absence of the three individuals who already testified before the House Quad Committee’s (quadcomm) investigation of the Duterte administration's drug war.
“We have to require their presence here. I can only surmise that they don’t want their statement given before the House of Representatives to be debunked before this body,” Dela Rosa lamented.
During the hearing, Dela Rosa also renewed his defense of the Duterte administration’s war on drugs, which he implemented then as Philippine National Police (PNP) chief.
Death squad commanders
When Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada asked regarding the extrajudicial killings (EJKs), Duterte called those on his right who were police directors as "death squad commanders".
"Lahat itong sa right side ko dumaan ito ng chief of police, police director, puro commander ng death squad yan. Trabaho ng pulis yan. (All these on my right side, who became chief of police, police directors, they're all commanders of a death squad. That's the job of the police)," he said.
He added that it's because they were police directors in charge of controlling crimes in the city.
Duterte even specifically referred to Dela Rosa, stating "death squad din yan (he's also death squad)."
Among those on his right, it was Dela Rosa, Vicente Danao, and Catalino Cuy who served as Davao City Police Chief. Aside from this, Duterte said that while he did not deliberately ask the police to kill suspects, he told them to encourage criminals to fight so they can be killed.
"Ang sinabi ko ganito: 'prangkahan tayo, encourage the criminals to fight, encourage them to draw their guns'...encourage them lumaban pagka lumaban patayin ninyo para matapos na ang problema ko sa syudad ko (This is what I said: 'I'll be frank, encourage the criminals to fight, encourage them to draw their guns'...encourage them to fight and when they do, kill them so that the problems in my city would end)," he said.