PH Truth Commission on Duterte drug war to begin hearings Aug. 14

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Truth Commission will hold its first public “truth-telling session” on Friday, August 14, on abuses committed during former President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war.

The session will be held at 8:30 a.m. at the Pius Center in Manila and will also be livestreamed on YouTube and Facebook.

According to commission chairperson Raul Pangalangan, a former International Criminal Court (ICC) judge, the session will be held with civil society organizations.

READ: Truth Commission on drug war launched: ‘For catharsis

“Our goal is not prosecutorial. Our goal is to enable the victims to speak their truth, to enable the victims to be heard,” Pangalangan said in an interview on ANC.

“And in the course of our findings, if we determine that there are important facts that will be useful to the government, we will certainly send it to the responsible government offices and, in fact, not just the Philippine government but also international organizations,” he added.

Asked how the commission’s hearing differs from Duterte’s looming trial before the ICC, Pangalangan said that unlike the international court, which can only assess crimes committed while the Philippines was a member of the Rome Statute—from 2000 to 2019—the Truth Commission can hear victims of crimes committed after 2019 and before 2011.

“So that’s quite a practical distinction because we have heard victims, parents, mothers who actually are quite distraught that their loved ones have been killed but are beyond the jurisdiction of the ICC,” he added.

READ: ICC confirms all charges vs Rodrigo Duterte

Duterte’s ICC trial will be held on Nov. 30 as he faces three counts of crimes against humanity over his administration’s war on drugs, which killed at least 6,000 people based on government records and more than 30,000 according to human rights groups, including children as young as 3 years old. /mcm