MY third book is essentially a revised and updated edition of my first book titled “KILL KILL KILL Extrajudicial Killings in the Philippines; Crimes Against Humanity v. Rodrigo Duterte Et. Al.” It contains the developments that occurred over the last two years.
I finished the original edition in Sept., 2023; the second edition this Nov. I will submit the revised and updated edition sometime this week. Printed copies will be out by Dec. I have added seven new chapters to the first 11 chapters on Gongdi’s war on drugs and the spate of extrajudicial killings in the country. Excerpts of Chapter 12:
The political, economic, and social changes require its revision to include the latest dynamics and developments. The presidency of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is a development that has propelled changes in the official state policy on illegal drugs, which is among the main issues in this book. Marcos does not have the heart to continue Duterte’s bloody but failed war on drugs premised on extrajudicial killings (EJKs). An antidrug policy based on the rule of law and its flipside, due process, is the preferential option.
The resolution of ex-Sen. Leila de Lima’s court cases and subsequent release from nearly seven years of imprisonment after witnesses recanted their baseless accusations topped the list of changes. De Lima was not only redeemed from humiliation, she was vindicated as well to prove that Duterte was a monster of a president. Her court issues did not immediately end as a coterie of unscrupulous state prosecutors, who were believed to have been part of the Duterte’s machinery since the DoJ tenure of Menardo Guevarra, a Duterte loyalist, pestered her with dubious initiatives to revive the charges to violate the constitutional provision on double jeopardy. They were unsuccessful as the cases were already dismissed by the court. The timely intervention by then Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, Guevarra’s successor, cleared the air. He ordered their final termination. The state prosecutors could not do anything less but to accept Remulla’s marching order.
Developments cascaded over the next three years after Marcos became president and the crimes against humanity charges against Duterte have prospered at the ICC. In late 2023, ICC probers quietly arrived in the country to verify claims of alleged summary executions by PNP personnel and masked anti-drug vigilante squads in connection with Duterte’s bloody but ill-fated war on drugs. They did their investigation without fanfare since the Philippines is no longer a member of the ICC. The ICC people approached several state offices, including the Office of the Speaker at the House of Representatives for documents and relevant materials. Then Speaker Martin Romualdez obliged and gave them the documents to boost the allegations on Duterte’s ill-fated war on drugs. The former president learned of these developments. Duterte, now powerless and, ergo, toothless, could only suffer in silence.
LOYALTY TO CHINA. Quiet and not so quiet developments occurred, causing unexpected twists and turns. They include some policy changes and advancement of the crimes against humanity charges against Duterte into the formal investigation stage at the ICC. Although elected with Duterte’s daughter, Sara as vice president, Marcos did not take Duterte’s direction of governance. He dismissed loyalty to China but quietly repivoted the Philippines to the U.S. umbrella of support. Marcos dismissed suggestions for him to adopt Duterte’s war on drugs policy premised on EJKs. For him, Duterte’s antidrug policy was not just irrelevant but repulsive and violative of established human norms for him as well.
Marcos refused suggestions to name Rodrigo Duterte as drug czar, as advanced by two flunkeys – the noisy but hollow Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa and the ill reputed Sen. Christopher Lawrence Go. Marcos did not justify his refusal but it could be surmised that he did not want a war on drugs premised on EJKs. He instead launched his administration’s antidrug war premised on the rule of law and the capture of druglords and smuggled drugs. Marcos refused to name Rodrigo Duterte as special envoy to China. The ceremonial post went to Teodoro Locsin Jr., who is the concurrent Philippine envoy to Great Britain. The President’s twin moves were big slaps on Duterte’s face and ego.
In late 2022, then Rep. France Castro of the Left-leaning ACT-Teachers Party List revealed that Vice President Sara Duterte got P125 million of confidential funds by end-2022. It was the start of the Vice President’s calvary. Other lawmakers questioned the confidential fund because it lacked congressional authority and approval. The Commission on Audit (CoA) disallowed P73.28 million of the amount because it was essentially misused. Subsequent congressional probes led to the discovery that a total of P612.5 million in confidential funds was allegedly misused by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and Department of Education (Deped), which Sara Duterte led for 30 months since 2022.
REFUSAL TO ANSWER. Sara Duterte refused to answer questions raised in the subsequent 2024 inquiry conducted by the House Committee on Good Governance “in aid of legislation” by the upcoming Rep. Joel Chua of Manila. In the end, the House scuttled the OVP’s slightly over P2.0 billion proposed budget for 2025. It should be noted that the probe by the Chua committee was a function of the earlier creation of the Quadrilateral Committee, or Quad Com, a supercommittee that looked into several issues that included Rodrigo Duterte’s failed anti-drug policy and Sara Dutertet’s confidential and intelligence funds.
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PHILIPPINES REPIVOT TO THE U.S.
THE repivot of the Philippines back to the security umbrella of the United States in East Asia did not happen overnight. It was the product of a planned and well thought process shortly after the election of the Marcos-Duterte “Unity” ticket in 2022. Moving like a submarine, Marcos initiated the proverbial change. Strangely, the Duterte camp, which is notoriously pro-China until now, did not notice it. The father and daughter tandem of Rodrigo and Sara Duterte did not raise any howl or fuss, as they failed completely to perceive and discern the repivot.
Marcos went to China for a state visit from Jan. 3 to 5, 2023. His state visit was regarded as a significant diplomatic initiative to strengthen bilateral ties of the two countries. In his visit, Marcos met China’s big guns led by President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang, and Chairman of China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee Li Zhanshu to discuss bilateral issues on trade, investment, agriculture, energy, infrastructure, and security, among other things.
His state visit led to the signing of 14 bilateral accords in trade, agriculture, infrastructure, tourism, and maritime security cooperation, including a deal to establish direct communications between their foreign ministries to avoid misunderstanding on the ticklish issue of the West Philippine Sea. Chinese firms “pledged” $22.8 billion in investments in the Philippines on renewable energy, agriculture, nickel processing, battery, and electric vehicle manufacturing. On trade, the two countries agreed on China’s importation of the Filipino durian, mangosteen, and specialty rice varieties essentially to reduce the trade imbalance between the two nations.
UNRESOLVED. On maritime issues, China and the Philippines differed and they were unresolved in his state visit. Marcos raised concerns over China’s series of incursions in the part of South China Sea, which the Philippines called as the West Philippine Sea. The intrusions and the construction of what seemed to be China’s military bases happened in parts, which the international community acknowledges as part of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Philippines. Chinese leaders brushed them aside to his disappointment and consternation. China offered pledges to propel bilateral relations instead of discussing the critical maritime issues. Marcos returned home disappointed, but he did not raise issues on what he considered Beijing’s failure to ease its intrusive ways.
His retaliation came a month later when then U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited the Philippines from Jan. 31 to Feb. 2, 2023 to strengthen the political and military alliance of the two countries. Austin met the President and counterpart, then Defense Secretary OIC Carlito Galvez Jr. and senior defense officials, to enhance defense partnerships and security initiatives and promote an open Asia-Pacific region. His visit was mainly on the implementation of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), a bilateral accord that Rodrigo Duterte totally shelved and neglected since he became president in 2016 as if to show to the world that he was a loyal lackey of China, a fact which is indisputably true.
The two countries agreed on EDCA in 2014 but it did not move in nearly a decade because of Duterte’s inaction. Finally, the visiting Austin and his team worked with Filipino counterparts to implement and put flesh into it. They have virtually expanded military cooperation to give access for the U.S. troops to designated Philippine military facilities primarily to counter China’s inroads in the South China Sea . They have made final procedures for additional military sites. Nine local military bases have been identified to stockpile U.S. military weapons and materials.
NINE MILITARY BASES. During Austin’s visit, at least five military bases were selected: Basa Air Base in Floridablanca, Pampanga; Fort Magsaysay Military Reservation in Laur, Nueva Ecija; Lumbia Air Base in Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Occidental; Antonio Bautista Air Base in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan; and Benito Ebuen Air Base in Mactan, Cebu. Four more military bases were added in 2023: Camilo Osias Naval Base in Sta. Ana, Cagayan; Camp Melchor dela Cruz in Gamu, Isabela; Balabac Island in Palawan; and Lal-lo Airport in Cagayan.
In what appeared to be an initiative against China’s hegemony, Austin and Galvez condemned China’s gray-zone activities in the South China Sea and reaffirmed their commitment to the Mutual Defense Treaty, which connotes defensive actions to cover armed attacks on Philippine aircrafts and vessels anywhere in the South China Sea. Besides, the two countries declared their plans to conduct combined maritime activities there and joint exercises, including Balikatan, the largest military exercises with over 17,000 participating troops from both sides.
Austin praised Philippine efforts to counter terrorism, as he pledged support for the country’s humanitarian requirements, including disaster relief and response to the 2023 oil spill off the coast of Mindoro Oriental. Austin reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to the Mutual Defense Treaty, defining its scope to include armed attacks on the Philippine aircrafts and sea vessels to include not only the AFP’s but the Philippine Coast Guard’s as well in the South China Sea. Overall, Austin’s visit has reinforced the U.S.-Philippines alliance and showed shared commitment to regional security, stability, and prosperity.
COLONIAL DAYS. The Philippines and the U.S. have a long-standing relationship since the days the U.S. colonized the Philippines from 1898 to 1946. This historical tie has created a foundation for their alliance. The Philippines seeks to strengthen its security partnership with the U.S. to address China’s growing dominance in the South China Sea and its incursions into the EEZ of the Philippines. The Philippines is also involved in territorial disputes with China, which continues to ignore the military partnership of the two countries.
The repivot of the Philippines to the U.S. security umbrella further strengthened when Marcos met then U.S. President Joe Biden in April 2024. Marcos participated in a trilateral summit with Biden and then Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, focusing on the South China Sea security issues. In that trilateral summit meeting, the Philippines and U.S. have expanded their military exercises with the US committing at least $500 million in aid for the AFP’s modernization.
Hence, the President’s move to return to the U.S. security umbrella has been firmly put in place by allowing the U.S., through EDCA, to gain access to Philippine military bases to enhance their defense cooperation. This is a shift to Duterte’s useless China-leaning policy, which Chinese and Filipino leaders failed to put flesh. Duterte sought to distance the Philippines from the U.S. instead of fostering closer ties with China. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has reversed this approach by putting priority on the country’s security alliance with the U.S.
Just a few notes on Duterte’s pivot to China: In his 2017 state visit to China, Duterte actively sought to improve relations with China and went to the extent, albeit unnecessarily, to stress the “separation” of the Philippines from the U.S. and its realignment with China. Duterte expressed belief that such a shift would bring untold economic benefits and investments to the country. But in what could be regarded as a move toward self-destruction, Duterte downplayed the Philippines-China dispute on the South China Sea, opting for bilateral talks with Beijing instead of international arbitration. Duterte surrendered the 2016 victory at the Permanent Arbitration Commission of the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS).
COWARDLY. Duterte was soft in his dealing with China and Xi, its strongman. His critics claimed Duterte surrendered his leverage against China and compromised the country’s sovereignty. On the other hand, Duterte justified his move by saying the Philippines was not in a position to win a war against China, suggesting further that it should focus on joint development schemes. There was no way to stop the perception among Filipino scholars and critics that Duterte was not only a coward, but a “traitor” and China’s lackey. Duterte would and could not care less.
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LEILA DE LIMA RELEASE FROM PRISON
FORMER Sen. Leila de Lima’s release from prison occurred after nearly seven years of detention when a court granted her bail. On Nov. 13, 2023, the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court Branch 206 granted de Lima’s petition for bail on her third and remaining drug charge, allowing her to post a bond of ₱300,000. Prior to her release, de Lima was acquitted of two other drug charges. The first acquittal was on Feb. 7, 2021, and the second, on May 12, 2023. Her release was influenced by key witnesses, who retracted their earlier testimonies, claiming they were forced to testify against her. The pressures by international criticisms from civil society organizations like Amnesty International and the United Nations helped. UN experts cited her detention as “arbitrary.” It was a retaliation for her criticisms of the war on drugs.
After her release from prison, de Lima actively sought to rebuild her life, including her political career and law practice. She has sought justice and accountability for her unjust detention. When the Muntinlupa City RTC finally acquitted her of all drug charges on June 24, 2024 by granting her petition for demurrer to evidence, de Lima has filed countercharges against her tormentors like former Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre for allegedly fabricating evidence and coercing witnesses. These were not all. She ran for representative of the Mamamayang Liberal Party List in the 2025 midterm elections and handily won a seat. She is now a member of the House of Representatives. After her election, Romualdez invited her to serve in the House prosecution team for the impeachment trial of Sara Duterte before the Senate impeachment court. She accepted it.
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NO TO DUTERTE’S WAR ON DRUGS
DUTERTE’S anti-drugs policy, which was implemented during his six year incumbency (2016-2022), sought to reduce drug use and trafficking in the Philippines. As explained in the previous chapters of this book, this antidrug policy was marked by the sudden and significant increases in police operations, extrajudicial killings (EJKs), and vigilante-style murders. His policy has been criticized for its bloody ways with critics claiming between 12,000 to 30,000 civilian deaths in anti-drug operations, while police hardly reported death or injuries on their part.
Duterte’s ill-fated war on drugs had the following features:
• Police officers involved in anti-drug operations knocked on the doors of the houses where suspected drug users and pushers resided, ushered other residents to go out of the house; and killed the suspects under the pretext of “nanlaban” (they fought back).
• Motorcycle-riding masked men in tandem believed to be anti-drug vigilante men approached and shot dead suspected drug users and pushers without provocation.
• Duterte encouraged police to shoot suspects, who resist arrest or pose a threat to their lives.
There were serious allegations that the Duterte administration had a reward system for police officers involved in the EJK operation but Duterte initially denied it but later admitted to providing “additional compensation” to police. Marcos, upon his assumption of the presidency, changed his approach and policy to a more “bloodless war” on drugs, as his administration has focused on rehabilitation and harm reduction. It has favored the pursuit of rehabilitation programs for drug users rather than punitive measures. The PNP, implementing a presidential directive, placed its anti-drug operations under review in Aug. 2024. Marcos, despite a perceived shift in its approach, continues to enforce his anti-drug policies.
NO TO REJOINING ICC. Curiously, the ICC made it known it was investigating Duterte’s war on drugs for alleged crimes against humanity, while Marcos said the Philippines would not rejoin the ICC. It could be surmised that he made the statement to placate Duterte, who openly urged him to pursue the same direction he took. Still, the hollow pair of dela Rosa and Go kept on egging him out to take the same direction as Duterte, but Marcos ignored them to show abhorrence to their suggestion. He never took the two senators seriously.
A protege of Duterte since he was a mayor in the southern port city of Davao, dela Rosa was PNP chief during the first two years of Duterte’s incumbency. He was instrumental in implementing his war on drugs. He was its chief architect because he signed PNP Memorandum Circular 1 that institutionalized EJKs as a way to solve the drug issue. He now faces crimes against humanity charges before the ICC. He was chief of the National Penitentiary in Muntinlupa after he retired from PNP in 2018. He was “elected” senator in the 2019 midterm elections after a seven-hour computer glitch that saw all 12 pro-administration senatorial candidates win.
Go stands accused of involvement in the ill-fated anti-drug war. A close ally of Duterte, Go is believed to be the bagman, who provided the reward money to the police officers involved in the series of EJKs. A police officer, Jovie Espenido, said Go ordered police officers to use “all means necessary” to eliminate illegal drug suspects. Go also faces charges before the ICC. Col. Royina Garma, former general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), likewise named him as the bagman of the reward system.
Although they are perceived as Duterte’s extension, Go and dela Rosa are noted for a mishmash of views, sometimes conflicting, on the illegal drug issue. In 2018, dela Rosa advocated the death penalty for drug offenders, believing it would serve as deterrence. In 2022, dela Rosa proposed rehabilitation for second-time offenders instead of imprisonment, citing jail congestion issues. He has advanced the decriminalization of drug use, excluding drug pushing, manufacturing, and trafficking. This approach, he said, would help decongest jails and address drug addiction as a health issue rather than a law enforcement problem.
‘NO JURISDICTION.’ As a key implementer of Duterte’s war on drugs, dela Rosa
faces crimes against humanity charges before the ICC, but he noisily, albeit erratically, claimed that the ICC lacks jurisdiction over the Philippines because of the country’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute in 2019. The withdrawal was initiated unilaterally by Duterte. He was wrong as indicated by the ICC official stand on this issue.
Go regarded himself as a staunch advocate for the fight against illegal drugs, although he is a mere flunkey of Duterte. Go stressed the need for a comprehensive approach to address the drug problem, focusing on both enforcement and rehabilitation. Go believes in supporting the people struggling with addiction while cracking down on drug traffickers.
As chair of the Senate committee on health, Go has filed several bills to strengthen the anti-drug efforts. A bill seeks to establish drug abuse treatment and rehabilitation centers nationwide to provide attention to drug dependents. Another bill requires the same drug abuse treatment and rehabilitation center in each and every province. He was vocal about the need to address the root causes of drug addiction and provide opportunities for rehabilitation and reintegration into society. Both Go and dela Rosa are not highly regarded, as they have remained largely ineffective despite their advocacies.
