MANILA, Philippines — “No apologies, no excuses.”
In the presence of families of those who died during the war on drugs, former president Rodrigo Duterte appeared to express little remorse regarding his administration’s crackdown on illegal substances.
The Senate Blue Ribbon Subcommittee began its probe into the Philippines’ war on drugs on Monday, October 28.
“Do not question my policies, because I offer no apologies, no excuses. I did what I had to do,” Duterte said.
Duterte came face to face with prominent opposition figures during his term, including Sen. Risa Hontiveros, human rights lawyer Chel Diokno and former senator Leila De Lima.
The former president sat at the same table as one of his staunchest critics, De Lima, who spent seven years in detention after being implicated in drug trade cases: six of those years during Duterte’s term.
While Duterte offered no sympathies, he did claim accountability.
“I have tried to do the best I can to address the problem of illegal drugs firmly and without compromise. For all of its successes and shortcomings, I, and I alone, take full legal responsibility,” Duterte said.
“Sa lahat ng mga nagawa ng pulis pursuant to my order, ako ang managot. At ako ang managot, ‘wag ang pulis na sumunod sa order ko,” headded.
(Everything that the pulis did pursuant to my order, I will take responsibility. And I will answer, not the police who followed my orders.)
The former president also recounted that when he was a teacher in a police academy in Davao, he taught students to shoot to kill to reduce the criminals on the streets.
Duterte reiterated several iconic rhetorics from his term, such as protecting people from the woes of illegal drugs. The former president’s allies in the Senate were also in the Session Hall with him. Senators Bong Go, Bato Dela Rosa and Robin Padilla all used their time to defend the drug war.
“Napag-usapan po natin ang mga biktima ng sinasabing war on drugs pero hindi po natin napag-usapan ang mga biktima ng mga durugista,” Padilla said. (We talked about the victims of the said war on drugs but we do not talk about the victims of drug users.)
Opposition Sen. Risa Hontiveros in her opening statement said that Duterte often would say exaggerated statements, with many of them pertaining to killing Filipinos.
“Today, we will take him at his word,” Hontiveros said.
Hontiveros said that the probe was not just about Duterte, but to the victims of those killed during the drug war.
Citing government talliesbalato8, at least 6,000 people were killed during Duterte’s war on drugs, but human rights groups say that the number could reach up to 30,000.
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