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Category: PNP. illegal drugs

VP Sara, 2 senators named in ICC probe documents

Published by Ellen on July 23, 2023

Former president Rodrigo Duterte with daughter Vice President Sara and Sen. Bong Go in a 2019 photo when they attended the enthronement of Japanese Emperor Naruhito. Malacañang photo

Aside from former president Rodrigo Duterte, Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio and two incumbent senators were named in documents submitted to the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigating the killings related to the drug war during the previous administration and when Duterte was mayor of Davao City, a copy of the documents obtained by VERA Files shows.

The vice president’s name was mentioned as knowing and approving the killings when she was city mayor, a post that her father held for more than 20 years. Sara was mayor from 2010 to 2013, and from 2016 to 2022.

A person knowledgeable of the ICC probe said she could be issued a “summons” by the ICC. If she would not comply with the summons, she would be issued a warrant of arrest.

This is the first time the name of Sara was mentioned in the documents relevant to the ICC investigation.

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Fr. Flavie’s Program Paghilum

Published by Ellen on June 5, 2023

Dutch ambassador gives ashes to son of the victim. Photo by Vincent Go.

“I think he is into drugs.”

Fr. Flavie Villanueva was referring to Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, who suggested on May 23 that former president Rodrigo Duterte be named as anti-drug czar. Duterte’s presidency was notorious for the brutal drug war that killed more than 20,000 (official police figure is more than 6,000) persons.

Thankfully, Duterte shot down immediately his former aide-turned-senator’s idea, saying that it is President Marcos Jr.’s call now and he should be given “the greatest elbow room, leeway to do his job.”

Fr. Flavie does not buy the line that the Duterte administration’s murderous war against illegal drugs is much more effective than the current government’s strategy, given the recent expose of police involvement in illegal drug trafficking. “Ang mga nahuhuli nila noon ay mga nasa laylayan. Ang mga nahuhuli nila ngayon ay malalaking isda.”

(The ones they caught before were those in the low fringes of society. The ones caught now are the big fishes.)

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Marcos’ PH roadshow and the ICC probe

Published by Ellen on February 1, 2023

If you listen closely to Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla’s strident reaction to the decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to resume the investigation into the killings related to Duterte’s war on drugs, he didn’t completely rule out allowing the ICC to come into the country.

“Definitely I do not welcome this move of theirs and I will not welcome them in the Philippines unless they make it clear that they will respect us in this regard,” he said in a press conference.

He added: “I will not stand for any of these antics that will question our status as a sovereign country. We will not accept that.”

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Banaag blames ‘copy and paste’ re PCOO’s drug 2017 drug figures

Published by Ellen on July 21, 2019

If the objective of the #Real Numbers press conference last Thursday organized by the Presidential Communications Operations Office was to clarify about the conflicting numbers related to President Duterte’s drug war, it left us more confused.

Communication Assistant Secretary Marie Banaag. 2018 file photo.
Communications Assistant Secretary Marie Rafael-Banaag repeated her earlier press statements that Homicide cases under investigation (HCUIs) are “not at all” related to the war on drugs or anti-illegal drug operations.

It’s difficult to believe her assertion because in the Duterte government’s 2017 Accomplishment Report, under the section “Fighting Illegal Drugs,” it listed 3,967 “drug personalities who died in anti-drug operations” from July 1, 2016 to November 30, 2017 and 16,355 “homicides under investigation” from July 1, 2016 – September 30, 2017.

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Outrage at Kian’s wake: Lawmakers, rights activists denounce Duterte’s war on drugs

Published by Ellen on August 22, 2017

Please click here for VERA Files’ photo essay

By Arianne Christian Tapao and Ellen T. Tordesillas, VERA Files
Photos by Arianne Christian Tapao

A neighbor of the de los Santos family lights a candle as the protest march passes by.

Usually on opposing sides, supporters and critics of President Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal war on drugs have joined the chorus of condemnation over the killing of 17-year-old Kian Loyd Delos Santos and called for an investigation of police abuse that has resulted in “unnecessary deaths” in the anti-narcotics campaign.

As rain poured on Barangay 160, Caloocan City on Aug. 21, groups led by ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio and BAYAN Secretary General Renato Reyes condemned during a candle-lighting ceremony the killing by police of the Grade 11 student.

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