De Lima to Duterte: No one benefited from drug war but you and your family

Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has chided Mr. Duterte for falsely claiming that the Filipino people benefited from the killings in his bloody war on drugs.

De Lima said that what she finds absurd is the fact that Duterte thinks that his drug war is beneficial to the people "when it is the very reason for their pain, suffering and trauma."

"Pinatayan ka na, gusto pa magpasalamat ka. What a twisted mind!" said De Lima, a staunch social justice and human rights champion.

"Duterte and his family benefited from all these senseless killings in the country, not the Filipinos, and definitely not those innocent victims whose lives were lost, as well as the thousands of poor widows and orphans whose dreams were shattered, in this bloody and murderous war on drugs," she added.

During his talk to the nation last Aug. 2, Duterte slammed human rights advocates and their criticisms against his administration's drug war, saying that it was Filipinos, and not him or his family, who "benefited" from all these deaths.

"Palagay na natin na totoo 'yan sinabi ng human rights, p-- ina sinong nakinabang diyan? Ako? Ako ang nakinabang? Pamilya ko? Nakinabang sila diyan sa p-- inang diyan sa mga patay na 'yan?" Duterte said. "Sino nakinabang? Kayo! Ang anak ninyo! Ang bayan natin ang nakinabang!".

Duterte's war on drugs has been receiving worldwide condemnation for killing suspected drug offenders and for largely targeting small-time drug peddlers, but allowing big-time drug lords to run scot-free.

The lady Senator from Bicol said that most of the victims of EJKs are from the poor families who do not have the capability to ask for legal assistance, or defend themselves before a proper court.

"This reality should be more than enough to remind us to not allow Duterte to brainwash anyone into believing that his drug war is good for us and that we should tolerate all these violence, because we should not, and we should never," she said.

"Kahit ano pang sabihin ni Duterte, hindi na kailanman maibabalik ang libo-libong buhay na pinaslang ng drug war--mga inosente, walang kamuwang-muwang na mga bata at walang kalaban-labang maralita," she added.

The Senator concluded that, "When you have but one house to live in, what you need is a competent caretaker who would clean up and fix the house and secure the safety of the inhabitants; not someone who burns it all down while cursing at the people burning to death inside. It seems Mr. Duterte cares very little about the devastation he leaves Filipino families in because he counts another nation as his sovereign and brethren. To him, we, Filipinos, aren't human, but pests to get rid of the only way he knows how: through violence."

Last June 14, then outgoing ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced that she has sought permission for a full-blown investigation to follow her office's preliminary examination into the allegations against Duterte and others involved in the current administration's drug war, committed from July 1, 2016 to March 16, 2019, or prior to Duterte's withdrawal of the country from the Rome Statute.