Karapatan welcomes but views as long overdue the recommendation of the House of Representatives Quad Committee to file crimes against humanity charges against former Pres. Rodrigo Duterte, Sens. Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa and Christopher ‘Bong’ Go, former PNP chiefs Oscar Albayalde and Debold Sinas and former police colonels Royina Garma and Edilberto Leonardo as well as Irmina ‘Muking’ Espino, an aide of Senator Go, for their roles in the extrajudicial killings under the Duterte drug war.
“We call on the Marcos Jr. government and the Quadcomm to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has already been investigating the drug war killings under Duterte for the past two years and is reportedly on the verge of issuing arrest warrants against Duterte and other major personalities in his regime’s war on drugs,” said KARAPATAN secretary general Cristina Palabay.
“We likewise reiterate our call to the Quadcomm to extend its investigation and include in its recommendations the filing of criminal charges against the perpetrators of the Bloody Sunday Massacre of March 7, 2021 that saw nine Southern Tagalog-based activists killed,” she added.
“In addition, the Quadcomm should also look into Oplan Sauron in the Visayas, which was a highly coordinated police and military operation that targeted unarmed civilians, mostly in Negros, who belonged to peasant organizations. To justify the atrocities committed against the peasants, the victims were falsely tagged by the military as members of the New People’s Army.”
At the minimum, the Quadcomm hearings have already established the involvement of both Sinas and police colonel Lito Patay in these bloody operations against activists concurrent with their responsibility in the extrajudicial killings of tens of thousands of drug suspects under Duterte, said Palabay.
Duterte and his coterie of thugs and murderers are accountable for the extrajudicial killings of some 30,000 drug suspects, said Palabay, but they must likewise be held to account for the killings of more than 400 activists and hors de combat under Duterte’s bloody reign, concluded Palabay.