Press Release
May 23, 2022

Dispatch from Crame No. 1,263:
Sen. Leila M. de Lima on Malacanang's dismissal of the CHR report

5/23/22

We can only expect the Duterte Administration to deny up to its last dying breath the fact that its drug war has brutally claimed the lives of thousands of Filipinos, as it dismisses the CHR's report as "rehashed issues".

This is the cavalier position that the Duterte Administration has taken since day one, without ever responding properly to similar reports from human rights organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch in the past six years. As such, not one of these reports can be said to be a "rehash" if the Duterte Administration has not seriously investigated or put a stop to the killings which were undeniably carried out upon the declarations of Duterte himself.

It has been the trademark of this outgoing administration for its spokespersons to defend the human rights record of Duterte even while he simultaneously makes pronouncements that he does not care about human rights, and thereafter orders the PNP that the more they kill, the more it pleases him.

This latter declaration was made right after the so-called one time-big time operations in Metro Manila and environs that claimed the lives of 30 human beings in one day of drug war operations. It was also around this time when Kian delos Santos was mercilessly gunned down while begging for his life. His case was the only one that resulted in any conviction, one single case among the more than 20,000 summary executions carried out in Duterte's drug war.

The Duterte Administration cannot deny its policy of extra-judicial killings that has claimed the lives of thousands. It can go on dismissing reports as "rehashed", but the records and evidence are already finding their way to international bodies such as the International Criminal Court. No lame denial will ever suffice insofar as the world's awareness of what happened in the Philippines in the past six years of the Duterte Administration is concerned.

The incoming administration should take this opportunity to disprove serious concerns that like the Duterte Administration, it won't be putting human rights at the top of its agenda. It should start by appointing a new set of competent and credible CHR Chairperson and Commissioners to carry out the mandate of the CHR to the fullest extent. More than that, it should put an end to Duterte's drug war and stop the killing of Filipinos. ###

(Access the handwritten version, here: https://issuu.com/senatorleilam.delima/docs/dispatch_1263)

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