When the drug war ‘Pieta’ reached The Hague
THE HAGUE, The Netherlands—Eyes at the public gallery of the International Criminal Court (ICC) immediately turned to Filipino photojournalist Raffy Lerma.
It was the first day of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s confirmation of charges hearing at the ICC. In his opening statement, Deputy Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang flashed the image of a male drug war victim, his lifeless body cradled by a woman.
The observers, lawyers and journalists at the gallery recognized Lerma as one of the photojournalists who documented the case of Michael Siaron, a suspected drug pusher shot by masked gunmen at the Edsa Taft-Pasay Rotunda in 2016. Weeping over his cold-blooded killing was his partner, Jennilyn Olayres.
Lerma said he did not even notice the photo at first as he was listening intently to Niang. “It was only when (the people at the gallery) were already looking at me when I realized it,” he told the Inquirer.
And then came the sudden rush of emotion.
Lerma was at The Hague last month to personally witness the four-day proceedings held by ICC Pre-Trial Chamber (PTC) I to determine whether the charges against Duterte for crimes against humanity rest on enough grounds to proceed to trial. The chamber may also dismiss the charges or ask the prosecution to amend them for further investigation.
Before coming to this Dutch city, Lerma reached out to the parents and sister of Siaron, and then to Olayres, who had since relocated from their Pasay home after the killing.
Victimized all over again
“I just texted them to say that I was bringing what happened to Michael with me,” Lerma said.
The arrest of Duterte, his court appearance last year and the hearings at the ICC may have finally gotten the wheels of justice turning for the families who lost loved ones during his so-called war on drugs.
But the trauma lingers for many of them. Siaron’s case, for one, continued to be a concern for Lerma, who took the now-famous “Pieta-like” shot when he was still with the Inquirer.
His photo landed on the newspaper’s front page on July 24, 2016. Two nights earlier, Lerma and other photojournalists working the graveyard shift got a tip from the police about Siaron’s killing; it was their third “crime scene’’ shot that day.
When Duterte was arrested in March 2025, the Pieta photo resurfaced in the media and this “made me worry about (Siaron’s family) being traumatized again,” Lerma said.
“And then it happened—they were attacked on social media again (by pro-Duterte netizens).”
Mocked in Sona
Lerma has kept in touch with the families of the drug war victims, at times attending their gatherings, drawing him closer to their struggles as they fight for justice while trying to move on.
He knew their pain of being victimized all over again—this time by internet trolls harassing them on social media and calling their tragedies “fake.”
Lerma was therefore unable to contain his emotions after again seeing the photo of Siaron and Olayres at the ICC hearing.
The photo that was flashed onscreen by Niang, the prosecutor, was not actually the one that appeared in the Inquirer but a very similar shot taken by Lerma’s colleague Noel Celis of Agence France-Presse. Niang, however, clearly referred to Lerma’s published photo in his opening statement.
“The loss of every single one of these victims had the most profound impact on their families, their friends, and ultimately their communities. Their suffering was met not merely with Mr. Duterte’s indifference, but with his mocking,” Niang told the PTC I.
Niang recalled how the ex-President, in his first State of the Nation Address (Sona) on July 25, 2016, a day after the Pieta’s publication, “expressly made fun of the iconic photograph portraying the partner of an extrajudicial killing victim cradling his body, which is now visible on our screen.”
“While the specific incident portrayed in this photograph is not charged in this case, Mr. Duterte’s comment on it is demonstrative of his attitude towards the victims,” he said.
‘Mini-Dutertes’
The Senegalese prosecutor then quoted Duterte’s remarks about the Inquirer photo: “Those of you who are still sober, those who haven’t tried illegal drugs: If you don’t want to die, or get hurt, don’t rely on the priest, including human rights advocates. They won’t be able to prevent deaths. So, don’t do it. And then, there you are, sprawled on the ground, and you are portrayed in a broadsheet like Mother Mary cradling the dead cadaver of Jesus Christ. That’s how they are … creating dramas here.”
Also during the first day of the hearing, Duterte’s lead defense counsel Nicholas Kaufman criticized the Philippine media’s coverage of the drug war for supposedly being “sensational” and always giving it a “twisted editorial slant.”
But this very tactic of blaming the media and other “horrific” narratives only fed “the virus of impunity that has spread all over the Philippines,” according to human rights lawyer Joel Butuyan, one of the common legal representatives for victims.
This virus spawned “mini-Dutertes” among his staunch supporters, Butuyan told the chamber in his own presentation, referring to “trolls who mass-produce and broadcast false and fabricated news.”
“The crimes masterminded by Mr. Duterte did not only affect individuals but whole communities. Across the Philippines, numerous urban communities of the most impoverished villages were scarred by the violence and abuses wrought by a lawless anti-drug campaign,” he stressed.
Sobs at the other end
Siaron’s sister was able to respond to Lerma’s messages only on Feb. 27, the last day of the hearing. They were able to speak on the phone. As to Olayres, Lerma sensed that she was just beside the sister that very moment, for he could hear the widow sobbing in the background.
Lerma said he plans to visit the family soon to better explain what happened during the confirmation of charges hearing at The Hague.
“Whenever I’m asked about it… [I say] you can’t explain ‘crimes against humanity’ with a single photo,” he said.
“But it was able to reach whoever it needed to reach,’’ he said. “And now it is here.”
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