Duterte: Taking responsibility for drug war can be ‘confession of guilt’

(Photo courtesy of House Representative’s Facebook Live)

MANILA, Philippines — Former President Rodrigo Duterte agreed with a lawmaker’s suggestion that his statement taking “full legal, moral responsibility” for his administration’s war on drugs could be seen as an “extrajudicial confession of guilt.”

Duterte said this to Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro after she asked the former president to define the principles of conspiracy, which are: principal by inducement, principal by indispensable cooperation, and principal by direct participation.

READ: Duterte takes ‘full legal, moral responsibility’ for drug war

“An inducement could be money usually or inducement by a woman to a man to kill her husband so they can live forever happily ever after,” Duterte explained during the House quad committee’s 11th hearing on Wednesday.

When it comes to principal by indispensable cooperation, Duterte said a person could be held liable if, for example, they “provided a vehicle” for the commission of a crime.

On the other hand, principal by direct participation means that a person planned to commit the crime and participated in the process.

After this explanation, Luistro referred back to Duterte’s statement during the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee’s investigation into his war on drugs last October 28.

“It is my humble submission, Mr. Chair, that the former president can be considered liable for all these crimes the theory of conspiracy by being a principal by inducement,” she said.

“I wish to manifest, Mr. Chair, that without the order, without the reward, these police operatives should not have resulted in killing a huge number of victims of the war on drugs,” she added.

READ: Palace: Duterte free to surrender to ICC if he wishes

The lawmaker then asked Duterte if his statement could be considered an “extrajudicial confession of guilt,” to which the latter replied: “In the sense yes, I can’t do anything about it anymore.”

“Are you saying yes?” Luistro asked again, clarifying.

“Yes, because I ordered the campaign against illegal drugs. At kung anong ginawa nila, whether illegal or not, ako nagutos (Whatever they did, whether illegal or not, I ordered it). In that sense, I take that responsibility for their actions,” he answered.