The human rights situation: From Duterte until today

By Fr. Shay Cullen

Former president Rodrigo Duterte is currently in a private cell at the International Criminal Court (ICC) Detention Center in Scheveningen, on the outskirts of The Hague. It is expected that he would have a lonely and sparse birthday celebration on March 28, when he turns 81. By then, it would have been a year since, in cooperation with the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., he was arrested on an ICC warrant at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and later flown to the Netherlands.

He is considered innocent until proven guilty under Article 66 of the Rome Statute, the ICC’s governing document. He must be proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt by the ICC prosecutor. He is facing three allegations of crimes against humanity: that he participated as an indirect co-perpetrator in systematic nationwide attacks against innocent people from Nov. 1, 2011, to March 16, 2019. A confirmation hearing on the charges is scheduled for Feb. 23 to 27 to determine if there is sufficient evidence to proceed to a full trial.

Duterte is accused of setting up the “Davao Death Squad” and involvement in the killing of at least 19 people in Davao City, of which he was mayor, and other specific killings nationwide after he became president. When the death squad was still active in Davao, this writer campaigned for the end of the killing of street children by unknown motorcycle-riding gunmen. Duterte was in Congress, and Benjamin de Guzman was the city’s mayor then. I was charged by the then-mayor with defaming the city for protesting these killings. After more than a year of legal battles, the day came for me to be arraigned and the trial to convict me to start. In response to the public outcry and wide media coverage, the then-mayor sent a representative to the courtroom at the last minute. He dramatically submitted a letter withdrawing the charges. One positive outcome was that the killing of street children had stopped and the charges were dismissed.

But the killing of “suspects” had not stopped. Human rights supporters have documented up to 30,000 people as shot dead by unknown assailants. Government sources say that between 6,252 and 7,884 people were slain in so-called police-led anti-drug raids. The victims were shot dead without any presumption of innocence and without trial, unlike what Duterte is receiving at the ICC.

How could it happen in a predominantly Catholic country that a “shoot-to-kill” candidate won a landslide victory in 2016 by more than 16.6 million votes? He got 39 percent of the total ballots cast. During his campaign, video reports say he promised to kill 100,000 criminals and dump so many bodies in Manila Bay that “the fish will grow fat.” Other videos show him in a March 2016 rally saying: “When I become president, I will order the police to find those people [dealing or using drugs] and kill them. The funeral parlors will be packed.” He also encouraged ordinary citizens with guns to participate, saying: “If you know of any addict, go ahead and kill them yourself.” He even offered “medals” to those who did. In front of the cameras, he told drug dealers: “My order is shoot to kill you. I don’t care about human rights; you better believe me.” Despite this, 16.6 million Filipinos, many of them so-called Catholics, voted him into office with a “gun in his hand,” so to speak.

Absent voices

A huge majority of the population — as much as 88 percent — continued to support him, knowing he was allowing suspects to be killed as part of his so-called war on illegal drugs. They carry some of the guilt. Absent were the many voices of those who are supposed to uphold Christian values and the sacredness of every life. In 2017, there were 90 active bishops and around 40 honorary members of the Catholic hierarchy in the Philippines. Many of them remained silent, fearful of Duterte’s threats to expose their supposed “sins.” Just a few stood up against the extrajudicial killings (EJKs).

Among the bishops who spoke out were Pablo Virgilio “Ambo” David of Kalookan, also one of Duterte’s most prominent critics; Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan, Pangasinan; Broderick Pabillo of Taytay, Palawan; and Gerardo Alminaza of San Carlos, Negros Occidental. Bishop David said his diocese was being turned into a “killing field”; Bishop Pabillo accused Duterte of blasphemy and urged legislators to stand firm in investigating the EJKs; and Bishop Alminaza said the killings were part of a systematic policy, not random violence.

Other notable dissenters were Bishop Ruperto Santos of Balanga, Batangas; Bishop Arturo Bastes of Sorsogon; Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo of Kidapawan, Cotabato; and Bishop Teodoro Bacani of Novaliches. In 2019, the government filed charges of inciting sedition, cyberlibel and obstruction of justice against Bishops David and Bacani, Archbishop Villegas, and Bishop Honesto Ongtioco. These charges were eventually dropped in 2020 for lack of evidence.

Duterte also made appalling suggestions that “useless” bishops should be killed or “decapitated.” Many received death threats, and three priests were murdered — Fathers Marcelito Paez, Richmond Nilo and Mark Ventura — as a result of the anti-Church campaign. Other priests took a brave stand through their words and actions, helping the families of victims, such as Fr. Flaviano “Flavie” Villanueva, who was later recognized with the Ramon Magsaysay Award for his work. Another priest, Fr. Albert Alejo faced sedition charges alongside the bishops. Fr. Robert Reyes led protest funeral processions for the slain victims. Several other priests helped the victims’ families by providing shelter and protection in churches and convents. On Feb. 5, 2017, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines eventually issued a unified statement against the “reign of terror” caused by the war on drugs.

The courageous stand of these bishops and priests against this reign of terror was also a lonely one. We wonder what the rest of the clergy were doing while thousands of their flock were being slaughtered. There were 10,365 priests serving approximately 92.6 million Catholics at the time. Those silent and oblivious to the message of Jesus of Nazareth to stand against and fight injustice and human rights violations in word and deed have much to answer for. If the Catholic Church in the Philippines as an institution is content to only offer the sacraments as the path to eternal life without faith in action for justice, it is, as Saint James had famously declared, dead.

The hundreds of committed Filipino defenders of human rights, protectors of creation, children’s rights advocates, and the unjustly imprisoned who speak and proclaim prophetically the truth, work for justice in word and action, and suffer persecution for their faith are the true Christians.