Complicit cops and doctors
It’s finally happening. Two years after his presidency ended and over a year after he was surrendered to the International Criminal Court (ICC), former President Rodrigo Duterte’s trial for crimes against humanity connected to drug war killings will begin on Nov. 30.
The historic trial by the ICC in The Hague, the Netherlands, is already a landmark victory for the Filipino drug war victims—6,000 according to official police records and around 30,000 according to human rights groups. Who would have thought that, with all his clout and cult following, the self-described “The Punisher” from Davao City would even be arrested and brought out of the country to face trial in the international court against impunity and war crimes?
But what even his influential allies thought would never happen, happened. In his first appearance at the ICC on March 14, 2025, it was not a foul-mouthed, kicking and screaming Duterte that he promised to be if ever the ICC came to arrest him that was seen on video. Instead, it was a frail-looking man whose voice quivered as he said his name. In two subsequent appearances at the status conferences, a peaceful-looking Duterte wearing headsets could be seen sitting alone behind his defense team, occasionally smiling and waving.
Fit to stand trial
ICC Trial Chamber III cleared all obstacles Duterte’s defense team had put up to forestall the trial. On April 23, a pre-trial chamber confirmed all three counts of crimes against humanity, followed by a definitive ruling that the former president is fit to stand trial after a panel of experts examined him.
“The Expert Panel unanimously found that the Accused has the capacity to understand the charges, understand the purpose and consequences of the proceedings, follow the course of the proceedings, including the nature and implications of entering a plea, understand the evidence, and instruct counsel in the preparation and conduct of his defense,” the trial chamber said in its Oct. 8 ruling.
It’s all systems go for that long-awaited day of reckoning for Duterte, and hopefully soon for his co-conspirators who have yet to be arrested, including Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa who has been in hiding since November last year and is now the subject of a manhunt.
And while the wheels of justice are steadily turning halfway around the world, an independent Truth Commission back home is quietly trying to do the unfinished job of holding the rest of the Duterte drug war apparatus to account.
Tip of the iceberg
The Church-led commission, launched in May this year, seeks to document the abuses and extrajudicial killings to provide a “credible public record” of the Duterte drug war killings and recommend action against those complicit in its implementation.
In its first public hearings, the commission unraveled the role of policemen and civilians in the Philippine National Police’s Oplan Double Barrel and Oplan Tokhang, which resulted in the killing of thousands of suspected drug users in poor communities across the country.
In the latest public hearing, Dr. Raquel Fortun, the country’s leading forensic pathologist and member of the Truth Commission, confirmed that many drug war victims were gunned down but were declared to have died of natural causes or ailments such as pneumonia and heart attack.
Fortun called on the Philippine Medical Association to investigate at least five medical doctors, two of whom were medical officers of local government health departments. “These miscertifications could just be the tip of the iceberg,” Fortun said, adding that the victims’ families must have an accurate record of how their loved ones died.
‘Disturbing pattern’
Raul Pangalangan, commission chair and former ICC judge, said that if the basic document stating the cause of death was not accurate, “we don’t even have the facts with which to start.” One of the commission’s objectives is to establish the actual number of people killed in the drug war.
Earlier, the Truth Commission also found a “disturbing pattern” of police commanders who were rewarded with higher ranks, powerful positions, and cash payouts for meeting a sordid “quota” of killings in their areas.
These findings confirm what has long been known about the drug war—it was directed from the top, backed up by a reward system, and implemented without due process by cops planting evidence and shooting suspects who allegedly fought back (“nanlaban”). Records of their deaths were literally doctored, and only a handful of cops have so far been convicted.
As the Truth Commission documents the individual stories of the victims, the government must fulfill its part by thoroughly investigating and prosecuting law enforcers, medical doctors, and other individuals who took part in the mass killings and subsequent coverup. Only then will the country truly achieve catharsis from the dark chapter foisted upon our nation by the unrepentant Duterte.
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