A FORMER Commission on Human Rights (CHR) chief on Wednesday called for the creation of a truth commission that will investigate drug-related killings under ex-President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
The creation of a so-called EJK (extrajudicial killing) Truth Commission is needed given the government’s inability to probe the deadly war on drugs, Tindig Pilipinas convenor and former CHR head Loretta Ann “Etta” P. Rosales said in a statement.
She said the commission would seek to uncover, recognize and document the atrocities committed in the state’s anti-illegal drug campaign, which is now being investigated by the International Criminal Court.
It will also bring to justice all those who were part of the killings, she added.
“We cannot allow yet another dark period of violence to remain unresolved,” Ms. Rosales, a former congresswoman, said. “Creating the EJK Truth Commission is a testament to the incapacity of the previous administration to try EJK cases, which we have clearly seen during the entire Duterte presidency.”
Ms. Rosales and Tindig Pilipinas called for the realignment of the combined P650-million confidential and intelligence funds of the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education to a seed fund that will help establish the commission.
“If Vice President Sara Duterte truly wants to gather information for the safety of our nation, one of the best ways to use the funds is to investigate the thousands of killings under his father’s term so that the six-year horror will not be repeated in the future,” Tindig Pilipinas said in a separate statement. “If she cannot do this, then she is equally complicit in her father’s crimes against humanity.”
Earlier this year, the ICC rejected the appeal of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.’s government to stop the investigation of drug war killings committed under Mr. Duterte’s watch.
The ICC investigation covers crimes committed in Davao City from November 2011 to June 2016 when Mr. Duterte was still its mayor, as well as cases during his presidency up until March 16, 2019, the day before the Philippines officially withdrew from the court’s Rome Statute.
The Philippine police has said more than 6,600 suspects were killed in the campaign, but human rights groups said the tally could be as high as 30,000.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said there have been no reports of seizures of fentanyl, a highly potent synthetic opioid drug primarily used as an analgesic.
Fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, and its primary clinical use is in pain management for cancer patients and those recovering from painful surgical operations, according to the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention website.
“As far as fentanyl usage in the Philippines is concerned, and as far as seizures are concerned, negative,” PDEA Director General Moro Virgilio M. Lazo told a Senate Finance committee hearing on the agency’s budget. “We have no seizures as of now.”
This was after Senator Francis N. Tolentino asked PDEA about efforts to stop the spread of the drug in the country. He cited reports of the drug spreading in Metro Manila and other regions.
Mr. Lazo said he had met with a representative from the United States Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs to discuss the possibility of illegal fentanyl entering the Philippines.
Almost 71,000 deaths caused by fentanyl overdoses in the US were recorded in 2021, a 22% increase from a year earlier, the CDC said.
The Senate committee approved PDEA’s proposed P3.34-billion budget for next year, which Mr. Lazo said would be used for personal services, operating expenses and funding for anti-drug operations. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza and John Victor D. Ordoñez