EDITORIAL — Day of the (tokhang) dead
The nation remembers departed souls today as thousands of bereaved families wait for justice for the loved ones they have lost.
This month is expected to mark the start of the formal trial of Rodrigo Duterte before the International Criminal Court. Duterte, who is detained in the ICC prison in The Hague, is accused of murder as a crime against humanity related to his brutal anti-drug crackdown between Nov. 1, 2011 when he was mayor of Davao City until March 16, 2019 when he was president.
The first trial day is set on Nov. 30. While awaiting the start of the trial, Philippine authorities are hunting down at least one of eight men accused as Duterte’s “co-perpetrators” – Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, said to be the architect of Oplan Tokhang and chief implementer of the drug war until his replacement as Philippine National Police chief by Oscar Albayalde.
Besides the two former PNP chiefs, the other accused co-perpetrators are Duterte’s former aide Sen. Bong Go, former justice chief Vitaliano Aguirre, former Manila Police District head Vicente Danao, former National Bureau of Investigation director Dante Gierran and former Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency head Isidro Lapeña. A co-accused, former PNP chief Camilo Cascolan, died in November 2023.
Dela Rosa ignored calls for his surrender and remained at large as the one-week deadline to turn himself in expired. The government has dangled a P50-million bounty for his capture and warned that with the lapse of the deadline, the gloves are off.
What that means exactly remains to be seen. Dela Rosa’s camp has asked the Supreme Court anew to intervene in his case and has called for due process. Critics have pointed out the irony in calling for something that was denied the thousands of people who were killed by police on mere suspicion of involvement in the illegal drug trade.
A common explanation for the drug killings was that the suspects had resisted arrest or nanlaban. Duterte and his co-perpetrators are accused of the systematic, state-sponsored mass extermination of drug suspects, allegedly with a reward system and a quota for the number of kills.
President Marcos, to his credit despite having as his running mate Duterte’s daughter, put an end to the mass killings and has largely pursued a non-violent approach to fighting the illegal drug scourge.
The challenge for the President is to institutionalize the reforms that will prevent a repeat of Oplan Tokhang, and to be unwavering and relentless in the difficult effort to give justice to those killed.
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