The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday, March 13, said it will run after law enforcers who committed abuses during the illegal drugs war of then president Rodrigo R. Duterte.
“We will continue to work,” declared DOJ Assistant Secretary Jose Dominic F. Clavano IV during an interview on PTV’s Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon.
“We will continue to gather and collate evidence and we will make sure that those who are charged with these crimes will be given their day in court, due process and, if ever may mapatunayan na may pagkakamali ang ating law enforcement, ay pananagutin ho natin ‘yan (if ever it is proven that members of law enforcement committed wrongdoing, we will hold them accountable),” Clavano assured.
He made the assurance following the arrest of Duterte who was taken to The Hague to face the International Criminal Court (ICC) over alleged crimes against humanity in connection with the extrajudicial killings that was committed when he was still president and mayor of Davao City.
“Hindi naman tayo mag-bebreak dahil po may nahuli na sa ICC (We will not take a break because the ICC has arrested someone),” he said.
He also said: "Kino-collate pa natin ang lahat ng ebidensya doon sa drug war ni dating Pangulong Duterte at marami na pong lumalapit na mga witnesses sa atin (we are collating all of the evidence during the drug war of Duterte and many witnesses have approached us already).”
He stressed tht the surrender of the former president to the ICC does not mean the Philippines surrendered its sovereignty and an admission that the country does not have a working justice system.
The ICC describes itself in its website as “a court of last resort” that seeks “to complement, not replace, national Courts” in accordance with the Rome Statute that created the international tribunal.
“Ang sa tingin ho natin sa gobyerno ay ito mismo ay act ng sovereignty to cooperate with the international community (The government views the country’s cooperation with the international community as an act sovereignty),” Clavano said.
“We do have a working justice system at marami na po tayong in-investigate na kaso tungkol dito sa supposed police abuses at hindi naman tayo titigil d’yan (and we are already investigating many cases of supposed police abuses and we are not stopping),” he said.
He reminded that the case filed before the ICC against Duterte came first.
He explained that the Philippines cooperated with the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) in serving the ICC's arrest warrant against Duterte.