Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano's description of the previous Duterte administration's drug war as a "pro-life campaign" despite thousands of reported deaths didn't sit well with Manila 6th district Rep. Bienvenido “Benny” Abante.

“Let me remind SP Cayetano that we are [neither] a socialist nor a communist country. And he should realize no one can escape accountability,” Abante, also a pastor-preacher, said in a statement Monday, May 25

“We are a nation under God and the Constitution even says that life is sacred. He is supposed to be brilliant, who knows the Constitution,” he said of Cayetano, a lawyer.

Abante, president of the Bible Believers League for Morality and Democracy (BIBLEMODE) International and chairman of the House Committee on Human Rights, issued these remarks after Cayetano defended the drug war. Specifically, the Senate leader called the drive against illegal drugs a “human rights campaign” and a “pro-life campaign".

The Duterte drug war has remained one of the country’s most divisive human rights issues, with families of victims continuing to seek justice and accountability.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) under former president Rodrigo Duterte would later acknowledge that 6,252 were killed during the drug war. However, Duterte critics have floated a number as high as 30,000 regarding the fatalities.

It should be noted that ex-president Duterte is under trial for alleged crimes against humanity in connection with the drug war before The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC).

Abante said a proper understanding of human rights cannot be reduced to protecting the public from illegal drugs while disregarding the lives of those killed outside the protection of law.

“He (Cayetano) should study the real definition of human rights as enshrined in the Constitution. Even the United Nations is concerned about,” Abante said.

The Manila solon further said: “The irresponsible statement of the SP runs counter even to the Bible that he professes to believe and quote often. This only tells us that if ever [Vice President] Sara [Duterte] becomes president, she will follow in the footsteps of her father."

Abante said the biblical language often used in public life should also be applied to the poor, the accused and the families left behind by the anti-drug campaign.

“One of the sins God hates according to Proverbs 6:17 is ‘hands that shed innocent blood,’” he said.

Abante acknowledged that the illegal drug trade itself destroys lives and violates human dignity, but he stressed that state violence without legal basis also falls squarely within the concern of human rights.

“I agree with SP Cayetano that those involved in the drug trade are human rights violators and a human rights concern but also those who kill without legal basis and due process. Human rights is very much concerned about the use of killing machines in the war on drugs during Duterte’s time,” he said.

For Abante, constitutional accountability loses meaning when law enforcers or vigilantes are allowed to decide guilt through force.

“Both who are killed because of drugs and the guns whether they’re vigilantes or police are human rights violations. What we are after is accountability and due process,” stressed Abante.

Vice President Duterte--the ex-president's daughter--is eyeing the presidency in 2028. She is also the subject of an upcoming impeachment trial at the Senate.