Wounds still fresh for families of ‘Tokhang’ victims

MANILA, Philippines — A few days after engaging in a verbal tiff with a senator during Senate hearing on former President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody drug war, Catholic priest Flaviano “Flavie” Villanueva was in a more solemn mood Thursday as he led a blessing ceremony in a shrine built in remembrance for its victims.

Located in La Loma Cemetery in Caloocan City, the shrine-cum-columbarium called Dambana ng Paghilom (Shrine of Healing) serves as a resting place for the remains of 44 people who died under Oplan Tokhang.

It can be recalled that the remains of the victims were exhumed for an autopsy, which uncovered irregularities.

READ: Columbarium built for Duterte drug war victims

“We prayed for them who are now buried here, to serve as a reminder that there is a Heaven for them,” Villanueva, who is the founder of Project Paghilom, a support group for families of drug war victims, told INQUIRER.net after the ceremony in time for All Saint’s Day.

Dignity

Villanueva said the remains of the victims, who were also among the poorest, were put in “apartment tombs” which refers to niches on top of each other being rented for a lease.

Many of the remains would eventually end up in unmarked common graves after the expiration of their leases if it weren’t for the shrine.

“They’re now in a more dignified place,” he said.

For the first time, the families of some of the victims also visited the urns of their loved ones interred in the shrine, which was only opened in May this year.

Innocent, victim of poverty

Arsenia Chico, 65, lost two of her seven children due to the drug war.

She said her son Angelito Chico, 34, was killed in December 2016 in Barangay Bagong Barrio in Caloocan City, while her other son, Alan, 25, was also gunned down the day after Angelito was buried.

According to her, Alan only visited one of his in-laws, whose house was then raided by the police. Her son hid in their bathroom along with four children, but one of the children cried due to fright after hearing gunshots, revealing their location.

The police dragged her son outside before shooting him, which, Arsenia said, was done because he was a witness.

“It’s hard to accept, because my son (Alan) was really innocent,” she said, her tears welling up. “He was supposed to work abroad.”

On the other hand, Arsenia admitted that Angelito was involved in selling drugs, but she said he only did it out of poverty.

“We are hoping for justice because it is the only thing that will give peace in our hearts,” she said.

“He’s already old, and I hope that before he’s gone, the loss of our killed loved ones eat away at his conscience,” she also said of Duterte.

Drug watchlist, a kiss of death

Joralyn Fuellas, 47, also visited the urn of her husband Reynaldo Fuellas, who was a tricycle driver.

He was 42 years old when he was killed in July 2016, leaving behind his 11 children.

Reynaldo was killed by a “riding-in-tandem” during Joralyn’s birthday.

“Before he slept, he even gave me money for my birthday,” she said. “He wanted to have pancit.”

However, she no longer had a heart to celebrate as Reynaldo was shot in the street that very day, sustaining eight gunshot wounds. He was on a drug watchlist.

“Our village chairman even told me it’s because he is stubborn, he was told to surrender but he still did not do it,” Joralyn said, who said that her husband was not informed about it.

“I cursed at our chairman then. I told our chairman, ‘we were just neighbors, so why did you not inform us?’ It was easy for him to surrender if he only knew about it.”

Joralyn said no one was charged over the death of her husband since no one was willing to serve as witness.

“I am crying over it because he still has not attained justice,” she said.

No apologies, excuses

“When Duterte spoke [during the Senate hearing with] Father Flavie, I was so mad,” she continued. “I was cursing him repeatedly while watching.”

Duterte, during Monday’s Senate blue ribbon subcommittee hearing, admitted that there were many “mistakes” and “maybe there were a lot of crimes” during the conduct of his Oplan Tokhang.

Despite this, Duterte said: “Don’t question my policies because I offer no apologies, no excuses. I did what I had to do, and whether you believe it or not, I did it for my country.”

Villanueva also attended as a resource person in the same hearing, earning the ire of Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, after the former brought up the latter’s “shit happens” remark on the death of a three-year old child during a police operation.

He also showed the Senate panel a paper containing the names of 329 people who were killed during the drug war, with affidavits and witnesses that could lead to criminal charges, but no one was punished over their deaths.

He then rolled out the paper containing the long list of names, so long that it reached the floor.

“I showed him (Duterte) and I stared at him when I showed the list [as if saying]: ‘Here are the victims of your war on drugs’,” he said.

These 329 victims were just among the 6,000 lives taken during Duterte’s drug war, according to official government data.

But human rights watchdogs and the International Criminal Court (ICC) itself estimated the death toll under Duterte’s drug war to be between 12,000 and 30,000 from 2016 to 2019 alone, as they noted that several of these are extrajudicial killings.

Duterte and Dela Rosa are among the accused in the crimes against humanity complaint before the ICC.

“There will be a day of reckoning—here or elsewhere—which, if I were him (Duterte), I’ll have it here,” Villanueva said.

“Because when it’s out there in the afterlife, that’s …forever,” he added.