Senators failed to get what they wanted from Duterte

Under oath, former President Rodrigo Duterte told the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee that he would take full moral and legal responsibility for all his orders during his presidency. This bold admission came as he bluntly acknowledged the urgent need to combat the drug menace that he claimed was harming the youth and enriching narcopoliticians in their pursuit of power for upcoming elections.

Senators Aquilino Pimentel, Risa Hontiveros, Ronald dela Rosa, Bong Go, Robin Padilla, and Duterte’s staunch critic, former Senator Leila de Lima, seemed caught off guard by his expletive-laden and brutally candid testimony.

For eight hours, Duterte monopolized the floor, passionately articulating his disdain for drugs and the necessity of protecting the public, asserting that illegal substances jeopardized the future of the youth and left communities vulnerable to crime.

The Senate Committee investigation aimed to extract confessions from Duterte regarding the deaths of over 20,000 people, including minors, in his controversial drug war. Instead, Duterte took the opportunity to elaborate on his anti-drug policies. He even recounted how, during his time as Mayor of Davao City, he instructed police to provoke criminals and drug pushers into a confrontation. “What I said is this: let’s be frank, encourage the criminals to fight, encourage them to draw their guns. That’s my instruction—fight, and if they fight, kill them to end my problem in my city,” he stated.

Fr. Flaviano Villanueva of Program Paghilom testified about the 312 minor victims of the drug war, emphasizing that no one fought back. Similarly, Randy delos Santos, the uncle of Kian delos Santos—a minor victim of the drug war—insisted that his nephew was not involved in drugs but was still killed by police.

At one point, Duterte pointed fingers at dela Rosa and other former Philippine National Police Chiefs who served as Davao City Police Directors, implying they were part of the Davao Death Squad (DDS). However, he quickly justified this by claiming that “DDS is a loose term.” During his tenure as Mayor, many Davao residents accepted this term as necessary for their safety. Once he became president in 2016, the drug war transformed into a national policy.

To those who criticize his methods, Duterte stated, “I offer no apologies, no excuses. I and I alone take full legal responsibility for everything that the police did pursuant to my orders. I will bear the consequences, not the police who followed my orders—they were just doing their jobs.”

As human rights advocates attempt to navigate Duterte’s narratives in hopes of leading to confessions relevant to the investigations by the International Criminal Court (ICC), he remains resolute: “It is me and me alone, not the police who just followed my orders.”

In the end, the Senate’s attempt to hold Duterte accountable may have failed, but his testimony continues to raise pressing questions about justice, responsibility, and the impact of his policies on countless lives.