De Lima demands justice as evidence points to state-sponsored drug war killings

Former senator Leila de Lima called for accountability and justice for extrajudicial killings victims in 2017, under former president Rodrigo Duterte’s administration.

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“The former mayor of Davao City and the former president of the Republic of the Philippines, for so long have evaded justice and accountability for the thousands of those killed in the name of the so-called war on drugs,” she said in her opening statement during the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee hearing on October 28.

De Lima then cited the growing evidence of state-sponsored killings during the Duterte administration.

“Ngayon po tayo umaasa dahil sa mga lumalabas na rebelasyon na pwedeng pwede at nandyan na ‘yung mga ebidensya na mga state-sponsored ang mga killings na ‘yan,” she stressed.

The former senator also pointed out that the killings were a systematic crackdown that has encouraged impunity in the country, equipping officers with lethal force with no accountability.

“I have a whole collection of his statements which really categorically show very clearly, manifestly that he was inducing, encouraging the killings, and it cannot be purely rhetoric kasi sinunod ‘yung mga binanggit niya. Sinunod ‘yung mga kaniyang sinasabi na kailangan patayin ang mga ‘yan,” De Lima expressed.

De Lima also referenced multiple cases of victims allegedly killed under the guise of resisting arrest, challenging the credibility of commonly used “nanlaban” justification.

“Ang problema sa nanlaban ay hindi po kapani-paniwala. Siguro may iilan na nanlaban talaga pero karamihan sa mga lumabas na mga kwento ng mga kaanak ng biktima ay karamihan sakanila ay hindi nanlaban,” she emphasized.

According to De Lima, Duterte’s questionable law enforcement practices against illegal drugs roots back to his term as the Davao City Mayor, when the “Davao Death Squad” came out to the public.

“”Yung phenomenon ng Davao Death Squad pinatuloy niya at nagiging klaro doon sa mga naririnig natin sa house of representatives quad comm hearings na ‘yon din ang ginawang modelo ng war on drugs starting 2016,” De Lima stated.

De Lima was one of Duterte’s critics during his term and was arrested in 2017 on charges of alleged drug trafficking, which she denied and labeled as a political motive to silence her.

Despite her detention, she continues to seek justice from prison.

“Kahit nasa loob po ako sa kulongan I continued to monitor what was happening. I have with me the records of senate investigations, at least noong ako pa ‘yung nagpreside. I even filed and submitted a comprehensive dissenting report dun sa naging majority report by the committee–the Gordon report. I find a dissenting report I also have the records of my investigation of the DDS phenomenon,” De Lima emphasized.

De Lima then called to hold the former president and the officials who enabled these killings accountable.

“Gusto ko pa sana i-tie pa talaga, i-link pa talaga sa DDS ‘yung mga nangyayare na killings noong 2016 o pagpatay under the name of war of drugs,” she stressed.