Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
Former President Rodrigo Duterte’s alleged crimes against humanity in his brutal drug war cannot be “cleansed” by the House of Representatives, an opposition lawmaker said on Friday as he criticized a House resolution calling for its “unequivocal defense” of Duterte in “any investigation and/or prosecution” by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said House Resolution No. 780, signed by Senior Deputy Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and 18 of her allies, “does not deny that from 6,000 to 30,000 alleged drug suspects, mostly from the marginalized sectors, have been summarily killed in the wake of Duterte’s murderous campaign against illegal drugs.”
He disputed the resolution’s argument that the country still had a “functioning and independent judicial system.”
“Considering the default of the Philippine justice system in favor of Duterte, the proper forum now is the ICC which has jurisdiction over…crimes committed before the Philippines conveniently withdrew from the Rome Statute at the behest of Duterte himself,” Lagman said.
‘Should not be faulted’
But for House dangerous drugs committee chair Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, the former president “should not be faulted” for those tasked in the drug war who “overdid it and committed abuses.”
“Policy is different from implementation. If those who were tasked to implement the policy overdid it and committed abuses, the former president should not be faulted for them,” Barbers said.
He said he saw “the gravity of the drug problem firsthand” from the viewpoint of the committee which he already headed during the Duterte administration.
“My position gave me privileged access to all information on the real situation. The war on drugs abated what could have been an irreversible disaster—that of our country becoming a narco-state,” Barbers said.
He argued further that to “vilify” Duterte would be to “say that his policy on the war against drugs was a big mistake.”
Besides Arroyo, the resolution was signed by Representatives Marlyn Primicias-Agabas, Jose Alvarez, Loreto Amante, Dale Corvera, Mohammad Khalid Dimaporo, Richard Gomez, Aurelio Gonzales, Edward Hagedorn, Wilton Kho, Carmelo Lazatin II, Eric Martinez, Ma. Rene Ann Lourdes Matibag, Edwin Olivarez, Johnny Pimentel, Eduardo Rama, Anna York Bondoc-Sagum, Mary Mitzi Cajayon-Uy and Zaldy Villa.