Former senator Leila de Lima (left), former president Rodrigo Duterte (Facebook, Malacañang photo)

Former president Rodrigo Duterte is the "mastermind" of the bloody campaign against illegal drugs during his administration, "no doubt" about it. 

Leila de Lima ,a former senator incarcerated during the previous administration, had this to say Monday, July 29, before the House Committee on Human Rights during the continuation of its investigation on the extra judicial killings (EJKs) in the drug war. 

“There is no doubt in my mind that former President Rodrigo Duterte is the mastermind, as he was the instigator and inducer of the drug war killings," De Lima said to open her statement to the panel. 

"The drug war was implemented as an official Duterte program of government when he assumed office as president,” the Liberal Party (LP) member stressed. 

De Lima is a vocal critic of Duterte's drug policies. She was detained for several years on what she claimed were politically-motivated illegal drug charges before eventually being cleared of all of them. 

De Lima praised the House panel chaired by Manila 6th district Rep . Bienvenido "Benny" Abante Jr. for holding the inquiry, despite it being "rather late". 

"Better late than never," she said. 

She said that the drug war was an official government program under Duterte, implemented through Oplan Double Barrel, a documented operational plan of the Philippine National Police (PNP). 

“These killings were intentionally and deliberately carried out as part and parcel of Oplan Double Barrel upon Duterte’s orders as President and Chief Executive from 2016 to 2022,” De Lima said. 

She said these actions constituted a systematic attack on civilians and should be considered "crimes against humanity" under international humanitarian law. 

De Lima’s testimony traced the roots of the drug war back to Duterte’s tenure as mayor of Davao City, where the Davao Death Squad or the DDS was reportedly active. 

“The 2016 to 2022 drug war is a mere offshoot of the DDS experience in Davao...What happened was that the systematic [EJKs] perpetrated by then-Mayor Duterte and the PNP of Davao were replicated at the national level when Duterte assumed the presidency,” she said.