EDITORIAL
According to the exact number of people killed, extrajudicial killings may fall into the category of murder, massacre, mass killings or genocide. Snuffing of life occurs in instances of individual feud, business and romantic rivalry, violent crimes, etc. But when many people are victimized, the offense ramps up to extrajudicial killings (EJK) of a grander scale—and motives are usually economic and political in nature, not just personal.
One aspect of how Filipinos today regard extrajudicial killings is that they associate these only with former President Rodrigo Duterte’s blood and controversial war on drugs, limiting the time frame to between July, 2016 and May, 2022—the term of office of President Digong. This selective time frame was chosen because these are the only killings that reached some level of legal probe through complaints filed in the International Criminal Court (ICC).
There were, of course, extrajudicial killings that occurred before 2016. These murders, cases of torture, threats and intimidation, etc. are historically heinous and horrifying today as they were years ago. In the context of their being crimes then as now, EJKs of long ago in which relatives of victims are still today seeking closure (looking for their loved one’s remains to be given a decent burial) should not be nonchalantly dismissed.
Data from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), 6,252 individuals had been killed in Duterte’s anti-drug campaign during this time, adding that there had been a decline in the killings resulting from police operations.
PDEA said 448 persons had been killed in 2020, 214 in 2021, and 27 from Jan. 1 to May 31, 2022. Likewise, the 239,218 police operations that were conducted in the past six years resulted in the arrest of 345,216 individuals. But rights groups had stressed that the death count could be higher, even notching up to 30,000.
While Duterte, former PNP chief Ronald dela Rosa, and others in their camp cannot deny that there were indeed bodies who fell in the streets in that drug war, it is also a fact of recent history that many other Filipinos were killed outside of the state's judicial process for various reasons and varying circumstances.
These citizens were snuffed out of existence through violent means. If the rights groups now actively calling for punishment against Duterte, Dela Rosa and others consider all Filipino lives as precious and sacred, then these victims of violence should also be recognized.
Victims of common crimes, land disputes, personal vendetta, etc. are included in this separate group of EJKs. Most important is the inclusion of scores of New People's Army (NPA) and Communist Party members who were summarily arrested and killed by their own leaders under the Operation Missing Link (OPML), Operation Olympia and Kampanyang Ahos, three horrifying anti-spionage or anti-deep penetration agent (DPA) purges of the CPP-NPA in Southern Tagalog, Metro Manila and the Visayas, respectively, in the late 1980s. The communist movement's kangaroo courts cannot be considered "judicial" in these killings.
Considering the above, the move by Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte urging Congress to investigate extrajudicial killings and human rights abuses in the country over the past 25 years deserves a serious look.
The son of former president Rodrigo Duterte filed House Resolution No. 1745, asking the House of Representatives to direct the appropriate committee to conduct the probe “in aid of legislation.” Duterte said the chamber should look into the “surrounding circumstances” behind the incidents of EJKs all over the country, not only in Davao.
He cited the reports of the Philippine National Police, Department of the Interior and Local Government and other law enforcement agencies stating that the cities of Manila, Cebu and Quezon are among the areas with recorded high incidents of EJKs and human rights violations. The lawmaker wants the probe to cover a period of not only six years, but at least 25 years up to present.
“Human rights violations, including EJK, have been a perennial threat against a significant number of Filipinos for decades already,” the resolution read.
Let us monitor how the House of Representatives will process this Pulong Duterte move to open a can of worms—or shall we say, maggots that are still eating the flesh of hundreds of victims?