Analysis: What Became of the Philippines' War on Drugs?
Four police officers in the Philippines have been convicted for homicide for drug-related extrajudicial killings. To learn more, Herel Hughes spoke to attorney Kristina Conti, one of the lawyers involved in the case and head of the Manila Chapter of the National Union of People’s Lawyers.
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00:00The War on Drugs campaign was started by former President Duterte in 2016.
00:05Can you tell us, is it still going on?
00:08Yes, actually we're in the last phase of Oakland Double Barrel.
00:13It's called Oakland Double Barrel Finale.
00:16They tell us that this is a different approach, but essentially the Marcus administration
00:21adopted the same guidelines, the same principles under Oakland Double Barrel,
00:26or what we almost know more colloquially as Tokhang.
00:31And so, if we're talking about killings, they continue.
00:34If we're talking about arrests, they continue.
00:37The government officially recognizes 6,000 people killed in this campaign,
00:41but human rights groups say it's actually much higher,
00:43that it's up to 30,000 people that have been killed.
00:46Do we expect this conviction to open the door for more?
00:50It becomes really very difficult to procure not only documentary evidence,
00:56which should be available for the 6,000, but also object evidence for all the rest.
01:03For the 6,000, you should have documentation because these were, quote-unquote,
01:08legitimate police operations.
01:10But for the thousands others, up to 30,000 ended up dead in this War on Drugs.
01:17Who else has this kind of documentation or evidentiary requirements?
01:22And we've seen in several other cases that that is how the prosecutors tend to look at these cases.
01:28Whoever fired the fatal shot should be taken into account.
01:32Whoever was on ground closest to the victim, shot at the victim, should be taken to court,
01:39but not all the others.
01:41And that is our problem in all these incidents.
01:45The War on Drugs campaign is also being investigated by the International Criminal Court.
01:50Who will be at the center of that case?
01:52And what can we expect from it?
01:54Rodrigo Duterte will likely be the target, the main target of this case, of the trial,
02:00because in the investigation, I'm sure the guys found out that he must be considered
02:06the most responsible or the one who bears the greatest responsibility.
02:12It was during his campaign, the presidential campaign, even before he got as president,
02:17when he promised death, so the Christmas before the elections,
02:23he wishes everybody Merry Christmas to the criminals, to the crooks, to the drug addicts.
02:30This will be your last Christmas.
02:32And it was chilling because he was promising death in such an insidious manner.
02:37And when the deaths came, for the people, for me even, there was no other conclusion
02:44except that Duterte is responsible for his killing.