Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates VillegasINQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) on Saturday welcomed the call of Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas urging the government to allow the International Criminal Court (ICC) to pursue its investigation here in the country regarding the bloody drug war waged by former President Rodrigo Duterte.
In a statement issued on Wednesday night, Villegas said: “A thorough inquiry by persons without vested interests or prior alliances should be welcome.”
“If we have faith in ourselves and in our institutions, then we should not hesitate about allowing officials of (ICC) to see for themselves that we are able to bring the culpable before the Bar of Justice,” the prelate said.
Kristina Conti, secretary general of the National Capital Region office of NUPL, told the Inquirer on Saturday: “We’re very much appreciative of this [call by the Archbishop] because … the truth will benefit the victims of the crimes more than the perpetrators. And when we say victims, it’s also the dead, not just the living.”
Conti said allowing the ICC team in the country would give it “more convenience” in obtaining documents like police reports, autopsy and post-autopsy findings, the testimonies of the families of victims of the drug war, and perhaps even of the individuals being held accountable for the deaths and alleged abuses committed under Duterte’s anti-narcotics campaign.
‘More imperative’
NUPL represents some of those families. Conti is also counsel for Rise Up for Life and for Rights, another group formed in their behalf that also joined the ICC investigation.
Conti also responded to remarks last week by Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla citing a need to review the ICC’s jurisdiction on the drug war probe.
She said the matter of jurisdiction was already tackled last July by the Pre-Trial Chamber of the ICC.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, which Villegas used to head during the Aquino and Duterte administrations, said when reached for comment that it “doesn’t have any reaction yet” to his statement.
But ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro backed Villegas’ statement, saying in a message to the inquirer: “We are one with the [A]rchbishop in calling on the Marcos administration to allow the entry of the ICC in the Philippines to investigate the extrajudicial killings under the Duterte administration.”
Castro said the ICC’s investigation “is more imperative now” in the wake of his admissions on television and social media.
‘I had them all killed’
Early this month, Duterte said in his program “Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa” that he used intelligence funds to carry out extrajudicial killings as Davao City mayor.
“My intelligence funds, I used it to buy. I had all of them killed. That’s why Davao is like that. Your companions, I really had them killed. That’s the truth,” the former President said in his interview with spiritual adviser Apollo Quiboloy, the full video of which was taken down from SMNI’s YouTube channel two days later on Oct. 12.
Castro said she and her allies in the Makabayan bloc in the House had also filed Resolution No. 1393 calling on the government to cooperate with the ICC’s investigation.
“We hope that the House leadership will fast-track the hearing of this resolution and that President Marcos will heed the call for justice,” she said.