Drug war: ‘Widespread and systematic attack’ (2)

One could expect that the 15-page arrest warrant that eventually led to the detention of former president Rodrigo Duterte in The Hague would be worded in legalese. Surprisingly, the writing was simple and clear, making it understandable even for nonlawyers.

The March 7 warrant (https://tinyurl.com/4b7wfy79) has an easy-to-follow narrative, punctuated only by references to the articles of the Rome Statute, an international treaty that established the mandate and authority of the International Criminal Court (ICC) over crimes against humanity, genocide, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.

Page 8 of the warrant spells out Duterte’s “individual criminal responsibility” as an indirect co-perpetrator in the murders committed from Nov. 1, 2011, to March 16, 2019, when the Philippines was still a state party to the Rome Statute.

The ICC’s pretrial chamber 1 identified the former president as “the founder and head of the DDS (Davao Death Squad),” a network of assassins that was first brought to light and into the national consciousness by confessed assassins Edgar Matobato and Arturo Lascañas.

The following details are culled from the ICC warrant, which paints a gory picture of the modus operandi of the DDS and appears to have been taken straight out of a crime syndicate’s playbook. Kill orders against alleged criminals come from the top of the hierarchy, to be implemented by members of a clandestine network of law enforcers and hired assassins. To ensure compliance, perpetrators are shielded from prosecution, rewarded, and even assigned to national positions. Disobedience of subordinates to orders can result in death or persecution as scapegoats, ensuring immunity for high-level perpetrators.

“Lambada Boys”

DDS started in Davao City in the 1990s. Duterte allegedly established and oversaw the DDS, “providing it with firearms, ammunition, vehicles, safe houses, and communications equipment to perpetrate the killings.”

It all began in 1998 when Duterte first became mayor of Davao City and allegedly established the “Lambada Boys” (presumably named after the popular song that fueled a global dance craze around the time). The Lambada Boys acted as a “death squad” composed of police officers and nonpolice hitmen, with a mission to kill criminals.

“As the founder and head of the DDS and, later, the head of the State of the Philippines, Mr. Duterte, jointly with high-ranking government officials and members of the police force (the ‘co-perpetrators’) and through other persons, agreed to ‘neutralise’ individuals they identified as alleged criminals or individuals with criminal propensities, including but not limited to drug offenders, initially in Davao and subsequently throughout the country,” the warrant said. It explained that the word “neutralize” was understood to mean to “kill” in response to the growing criminality “by ‘killing criminals in a very covert and secret manner’ without ‘stick[ing] to the basic law enforcement or investigation,’ which had allegedly proven ineffective in eliminating or reducing the crimes.”

Duterte then allegedly used the Lambada Boys, renamed DDS in the early 1990s, as “direct perpetrators of the crimes as tools to commit the crimes.”

De facto and de jure

The ICC chamber finds reasonable grounds to believe that because of Duterte’s alleged role as the head of the DDS and subsequently the president of the Philippines, he had “de facto control over this unit, which was organised in a hierarchical manner, with the physical perpetrators at the bottom and Mr. Duterte at the top of the reporting line.” Duterte allegedly did this because he had control over the police in Davao City and DDS members “automatically complied with their directions, even those that were merely implied.”

The DDS even killed other perpetrators who didn’t obey the orders, and these low-level perpetrators “were killed or prosecuted as scapegoats to ensure that the high-level perpetrators enjoy immunity.”

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As president from 2016 to 2022, Duterte had de jure control over the executive, including law enforcement bodies, such as the Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Investigation, and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. He then appointed key law enforcement officials and created the “National Network, which killed those identified as alleged criminals and shielded perpetrators from being held accountable for their crimes.”

Reading the warrant, one can clearly see the pattern of what the ICC pretrial chamber described as an “attack directed at a civilian population” pursuant to an organizational policy when Duterte was the alleged head of the DDS, and according to a state policy when he was president.

What is troubling is the belief of the chamber that “this attack was both widespread and systematic,” taking place over a period of several years and victimizing thousands of people. Moreover, the warrant has adequately disclosed the chamber’s justifications for believing that Duterte’s individual responsibility for the crime against humanity of murder as an indirect co-perpetrator warrants his arrest.

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For comments: mubac@inquirer.com.ph