He refused to face a House investigation on his administration’s war on drugs but agreed to the Senate equivalent of that probe.
Former president Rodrigo Duterte faced the Senate blue ribbon committee at the start of this week and he admitted that thousands of mostly young men were killed needlessly in the name of his drug war.
In doing so, he implicated the men and women closest to him, including a sitting senator who he said was part of the so-called Death Squad, which began in Davao City but which spread throughout the country during his six-year term.
A lawyer before turning to politics, it is not clear if Duterte is aware that he no longer enjoys presidential immunity from criminal prosecution. He can now be indicted and tried for crimes committed during his time in power.
Duterte faced the Senate panel for a full eight hours on Monday, October 28 (Philippine time).
There, the former president said he was taking “full legal (and) moral responsibility” for his administration’s deadly war on drugs which resulted in thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, killed.
Estimates on the number of fatalities range from a low of 6,000 to as many as 30,000.
Speaking in a mix of English and Tagalog, he said: “I have tried to do the best I can do to address the problem of illegal drugs firmly and without compromise. That’s all I want to leave here before I leave this world.”
He admitted, however, that “there were many mistakes.”
“For all of its successes and mistakes, it was not a perfect one,” he told the senators.
Attending the Blue Ribbon hearing was former senator Leila de Lima, who Duterte had arrested on what would prove to be trumped up drug charges. She spent close to seven years in prison before being cleared in the last of three drug charges she faced earlier this year.
Even when he was still mayor of Davao City, then Justice secretary De lima had been investigating Duterte on what she said was his policy of killing drug offenders, be they pushers or users.
Said De lima: “We can destroy and we need to destroy drugs but we can’t destroy lives.”
Duterte said that in taking full responsibility, no police officer should be charged as the Philippine National Police (PNP) “only followed my orders.”
“I will take full responsibility and I will be jailed,” he said in his opening statement.
The police, on the other hand, “were only doing their jobs,” he said.
He made no mention of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has been probing the thousands of deaths of suspected drug users.
The ICC is said to be preparing to request Interpol to serve Duterte a warrant of arrest, along with other suspects led by former PNP chief and now Sen. Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa.
Dela Rosa was rendered speechless when Duterte pointed him out as one of the leaders of the Davao Death Squad.
During his testimony, Duterte even pointed to Dela Rosa, who sat silently with his eyes closed, seemingly in prayer.
Duterte said the senator was possibly praying for his sins.
As a result of his testimony, many called for the government to make Duterte accountable for the extra-judicial killings committed in the name of his war on drugs.
De lima said, “Inducing, encouraging and prodding people to kill, directly or indirectly, are not part of the duty of an executive official, whether mayor or president.”
Duterte is running for his old seat as mayor of Davao City in next year’s elections.
