Duterte’s Arrest and the Pursuit of Justice!
On March 11, a warrant was issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity related to former President Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs”. This arrest is a historic victory for the Filipino people in their years of clamor to demand justice and accountability for these heinous crimes which unjustly targeted urban poor communities, youth and students. The International Women’s Alliance stands with the thousands of victims and their families who have been crying out for justice for the more than 30,000 drug-related killings during Duterte’s 6-year reign of terror from 2016-2022.
Duterte’s crimes against humanity and other human rights violations extend beyond his so called “drug war”. He is also guilty of ordering extrajudicial killings (EJK’s) and the massacre of hundreds of activists, red tagging, state terrorism, and other crimes that have continued under the current President Bongbong Marcos Jr. The US government has been complicit in the violations of human rights in the Philippines through its massive military aid support. Trump himself congratulated Duterte for addressing the drug problem in the Philippines, when a leaked transcript of a conversation between the two world leaders went public in 2017. In 2018, the Philippine government received $193.5M and the amount continues to grow now under Marcos Jr. Abuses and crimes committed by state forces continue to run rampant under the Marcos regime, currently receiving an estimate $336M. The deeply entrenched culture of impunity, which Duterte exploited to unleash his bloody war on drugs and ruthless campaign of suppression, continues as not a single military or police officer has been held accountable, tried or punished for these crimes against the people.
The Dutertes have put on a sad and pathetic display to portray themselves the victims. We must not be fooled by this and must hold them accountable for the years of pain and anguish suffered by thousands of families impacted by these ruthless killings. Under the guise of the “war on drugs” Duterte weaponized poverty to further his fascist attacks on activists who spoke out against these atrocities and the anti-people policies peddled by the administration including the Anti-Terror Law and the establishment of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
Zara Alvarez, a human rights activist and single mother, was killed just one week after the anti-terror law was signed into law by the Duterte administration’s “war against dissent”. Alvarez, and hundreds of others like her, was just 39 years old when she was gunned down on August 17, 2020, by unidentified gunmen in the city of Bacolod in the province of Negros Occidental. She was a devout defender of human rights and dedicated her work in defense of the poor. In 2019, she led a group of farmers documenting and denouncing human rights abuses by government troops following the killings of farm workers who were accused of being members of communist rebels.
There have been more than a dozen women victims of political killings under Duterte. Among them include Corina Lina (46, peasant leader killed by the 60th Battalion of the AFP, Leon Pesdadilla (56) together with her husband Ramon who were members of the Compostela Farmers Association, and Jessybel Sanchez (42) a leader of an organized group of indigenous people in Mindanao.
During his presidency, Duterte’s crass and vulgar comments about women have further perpetuated a culture that openly commits violations against women and the people. Duterte notoriously used “rape jokes” and other sexist comments about women during his presidential career and even went so far as to order soldiers of the Philippine military to shoot communist rebels in the vagina. Filipino women already suffer from extreme forms of violence due to the intensifying militarization of their communities, especially in the rural areas of the Philippines where a majority of the population lives. Wherever there are US military soldiers present, Filipino women are vulnerable to more violence against them including sexual exploitation, trafficking, rape and even murder. Duterte’s regular display of macho fascist behavior, has only further perpetuated more violence and oppression of Filipino women.
Clarice Place, Secretary General of GABRIELA in the Philippines states “His fascist and misogynist rule resulted in grave rights violations, especially among women and marginalized communities, and so the fight continues until Duterte is finally convicted and made to pay for his crimes. ...this development marks a pivotal step toward accountability for the numerous allegations of human rights violations and crimes against humanity committed during his administration.
Duterte’s reign of terror was defined by violence, impunity, and misogyny. He often used women as the butt of his jokes and invoked the kind of “macho fascist” persona that was shockingly endeared by many. Ironically. it is three women judges of the ICC who penned the warrant his arrest, Judges Iulia Antoanella Motoc, Reine Adélaïde Sophie Alapini-Gansou, and María del Socorro Flores Liera. These women are now responsible for bringing justice to the people of the Philippines.
The International Women’s Alliance stands with the women in the Philippines in their unrelenting fight to seek justice for all people who have been victimized by the Duterte administration, including the mothers who have lost their children to his “war on drugs.” We call on all progressive and peace-loving women to stand on the side of justice and call for the immediate prosecution of Duterte by the ICC and for his cronies to be held accountable for their crimes against humanity. We applaud the efforts of those who have stood in solidarity with the Filipino people. We amplify the call for the Philippines to rejoin the ICC as one aspect of legal recourse for accountability. So long as the Philippines continues to be hampered by the shackles of US imperialism, the only real recourse to change the semi-feudal and semi-colonial conditions of the Philippines and rid itself of the corrupt bureaucrat capitalist regime is to wage revolutionary struggle for genuine freedom and social liberation!