Duterte’s Shocking Testimony on Drug Killings in Philippines

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The cockiness, expletives and threats unleashed by former people President Rodrigo Duterte in a Senate investigation brought back the nightmare of the bloody “war on drugs” for many families of the thousands of victims gunned down under his rule.

Speaks under oath on Monday televised hearing about the murders, a defiantly combative Duterte returned to the national spotlight for the first time since leaving office in 2022, with little sign of regret.

He got away with it again, say critics.

“If I get another chance, I will wipe you all out,” Duterte, 79, who is seeking another term as mayor of his southern hometown of Davao next year, said of drug dealers and criminals.

Duterte again denied authorizing extrajudicial killings of drug suspects, saying there were no “state-sponsored killings.” But he acknowledged that as mayor of Davao, before becoming president, he had a small ‘ death squad ‘of gangsters he had ordered to take out other criminals.

Duterte’s profanity-laced outbursts frightened Randy delos Santos, who was invited by the Senate to speak about the police killing of his cousin Kian as part of Duterte’s “war on drugs.” It felt, he said, as if a nightmare had returned.

“I had the frightening feeling that thousands of innocent people could be shot again,” Delos Santos told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “I wondered why he was allowed to speak with respect and given a platform to air his past excuses.”

Duterte has turned politics in the Philippines upside down

The thousands of killings – which human rights groups estimate could exceed 20,000 – under the Duterte administration from 2016 to 2022 were unprecedented in recent Philippine history and caused a International Criminal Court investigation as a possible crime against humanity.

They have also become a delicate fault line in the increasingly hostile rivalry between Duterte and his children, including the vice president Sarah Duterteand President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. They had a bitter political feud over major issues. While Duterte had maintained close ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Marcos has broadened defense and military ties with the United States and its Western allies.

“It is unfortunate that drug-related crimes are increasing again. Every day you can read about children being raped, people being murdered and robbed, and recently a drug den in the Malacanang complex was raided,” Duterte said, referring to the presidential palace in Manila. “The suppliers of this threat are active again.”

Duterte has previously accused Marcos of being a drug addict and a weak leader. Marcos had responded that Duterte was a user of fentanyl, a painkiller and a powerful opioid.

The Senate hearing, which at one point looked weak and misstated his age as 73, also served as the final reality check on the political constraints facing Duterte and his family after relinquishing his grip on power.

One of Asia’s most unorthodox leaders, Duterte has created a controversial political name for his deadly campaign against crime, expletive-laced outbursts and disregard for human rights and the West. He once called the Pope a “son of a bitch” for causing a monstrous traffic jam during a visit to Manila, and told it to the then President Barack Obama to “go to hell” for criticizing his brutal crackdown on drugs.

Duterte’s profanity became a trademark of his political personality and some considered him the Trump of Asia.

During a heated exchange on Monday, Duterte raised his voice against Senator Risa Hontiveros, a staunch human rights activist, who said his campaign had killed 122 children, including an infant. Hontiveros asked the chairman overseeing the hearing to restrain the increasingly erratic Duterte, who continued to talk as she spoke. He later stopped and apologized.

“You’re trying to pin me down on semantics,” Duterte blurted out to Hontiveros, who shot back, “You’re stuck on your own words.”

“You were never a mayor or a prosecutor… I was a prosecutor, mayor, president and I know my job. You should talk like, ‘You son of a bitch, stop it or I’ll kill you,’” Duterte told senators.

The murders have left deep scars

A Roman Catholic priest, the Rev. Flavie Villanueva, showed at the hearing a list of more than 300 victims, many of them breadwinners of poor families, who died during Duterte’s crackdown. A roll of white paper with the names of the victims, which the priest unrolled, was so long that it touched the carpet.

Former Senator Leila de Lima, one of Duterte’s most outspoken critics who was arrested and detained for years during his presidency, confronted him during the hearing.

The drug charges against her, she said, were fabricated by Duterte and his officials to stop her investigation into the drug killings. She was acquitted of the charges and released last year.

“This man… has evaded justice and accountability for so long,” De Lima said of Duterte, who was sitting next to her.

Senator Jinggoy Estrada wondered why De Lima did not file any criminal complaints against Duterte for so long.

Witnesses against Duterte, she said, were afraid to come out during his presidency when widespread killings took place.

“There was an atmosphere of fear, a culture of fear and impunity,” she said. “I hope many more will come out now.”