Hontiveros to Duterte: No honor in being called ‘The Punisher’

MANILA, Philippines — Face to face with former President Rodrigo Duterte, opposition Sen. Risa Hontiveros on Monday made a fiery remark, emphasizing that there is no honor in punishment like “tokhang.”

Tokhang is a made-up word, formed by joining common Visayan terms together: “Toktok” or knock, “hangyo” or request or plead.  It was the term used to describe Duterte’s brutal anti-drug campaign.

At the Senate probe into the previous administration’s war on drugs, Hontiveros recalled how Duterte, in his cuss-filled promises, repeatedly vouched that he would order the killing of his fellow Filipinos “in accordance with his crooked understanding of peace and order.”

“Maraming nagsasabi, nagbibiro lang daw si Tatay. Pero, sa ngayon, hindi tayo nandito para magtalo pa kung anong ibig niyang sabihin sa libu-libong beses na sinabi ni President Duterte na papatayin nya tayong mga Pilipino,” said Hontiveros.

(Many people kept on saying that he was only joking. But now, we are here not to argue what Duterte meant in the thousands of times that he said that he would kill us Filipinos.)

“Today, we will take him at his word,” she noted.

(Today, we will take him at his word.)

In her opening speech, Hontiveros asked why there were at least 122 children, including a one-year-old child, who died due to Duterte’s drug war.

“Yung 32 na namatay sa Bulacan sa loob ng iisang gabi noong 2017, lahat ba yun nanlaban? Talaga? E yung 26 kataong patay sa isang gabi rin noong 2017 sa Maynila naman? Nanlaban?” she asked.

(The 32 who died in Bulacan in one night in 2017, did they all really fight back? How about the 26 individuals who died one night in 2017 in Manila? They fought back?)

Hontiveros expressed hope that the Senate drug war probe would pave the way for the granting of justice to victims of extrajudicial killings as a result of Duterte’s Oplan Tokhang.

“At sa lahat ng nagsasabi na ang war on drugs ay parusa daw para sa mga naliligaw ang landas, my message to you is this: There is no honor in punishment like tokhang,” said Hontiveros.

(To all those saying that the war on drugs is a punishment to those who are threading the wrong path, my message to you is this: There is no honor in punishment like tokhang.)

“It should not be an honor to be called “The Punisher,” when thousands of innocent people, including babies, have died in your name. Hindi kailan man ipagmamalaki ng mga Pilipino ang war on drugs na yan,” she told the former chief executive.

(It should not be an honor to be called The Punisher when thousands of innocent people, including babies, have died in your name. Filipinos will never be proud of that war on drugs.)

In a separate ambush interview also on Monday, Duterte was asked if he has any regrets about doing such a controversial anti-drug campaign, but the former president simply said:

“[The] drug war, it is for the Filipino to make a judgment.”

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency listed 6,252 dead in anti-drug police operations from July 1, 2016 to May 31, 2022.

A 2017 year end report attributed to the Office of the President, however, listed more than 20,000 dead in the first 17 months alone of the Duterte administration.