MANILA — Persons who say they were victims of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on illegal drugs and their kin called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to resume its investigation into alleged extra-judicial killings, abuses and other crimes committed during his term.
In the accounts collated by the ICC Registry’s Victims Participation and Reparations Section (VPRS), these individuals had told the court that justice for the anti-drug war victims remains “elusive.”
They added the situation reflects the larger “fragility” of the Philippine judicial system.
“The situation in the Philippines has not materially improved for the victims represented. If any, gains have been isolated and marginal,” asserted the complainants in a May 22, 2023 report presented by the VPRS.
“Even attempts to obtain the recognition that the killings were extra legal have, unfortunately, been met with resistance from state institutions,” the ICC section observed.
VPRS released its 21-page report after its consultation process resulted in the representations of five victims at the ICC, on behalf of 350 individuals and 165 families.
The statements were made in response to reports that the ICC’s pre-trial chamber failed to establish “sufficient gravity” to pursue further investigation into the anti-drug war.
Latest government data tag the number of drug-related police killings at 6,525 as of May 2022.
However, human rights groups estimate the number may go as high as 30,000.
The figure supposedly included extra-judicial killings. (Sofia Abrogar © Philippine Daily Inquirer)
