Apart from supporting the ICC probe, families of tokhang victims say it’s also important for the country’s next leaders to have concrete plans and programs for the victims of President Duterte’s drug war. Their plight and search for justice must be acknowledged at the very least.
“We will not just cry, sit down and do nothing. We are victims who have learned to fight for justice not only for ourselves but for the other families as well.”
When your voice no longer bears the weight
of what you must say, then language must have gone away,
or forcibly buried underground,
silenced the fascist way.
Rise Up for Life and for Rights said that the initial findings of the inter-agency panel tasked to review the drug-related killings in the country only “proved the point in the cases of families whose loved ones have been killed – that they were killed in cold blood and that there was cover-up by the police and authorities, while the President cheered them on.”
Neri Colmenares, NUPL chairperson, believes that the case against Duterte is strong. “First, he publicly ordered the killings… Second, he refuses to be investigated. Third, the government does not submit evidence to the ICC.”
While the drug-related killings have overshadowed enforced disappearances, there are reports of the rise of the number of EJK victims who were first abducted and disappeared before their bodies were found.
Relatives of the victims of drug-related killings remember their loved ones as they call for an end to President Duterte’s brutal War on Drugs .
By DEE AYROSO
The Philippine National Police (PNP) says that “only” 1,398 individuals have been killed in the course of the Rodrigo Duterte regime’s “war” on the illegal drug trade out of a total of 6,011 killings in the country from July 1, 2016 when Mr. Duterte began his watch as President, until March 24, or a little…
“We are ready to fight for justice.”
“We believe that the vulnerable poor, marginalized and exploited sectors of society must be afforded every respect of their human rights—for these are the rights of the toiling majority.”