Duterte's statement on drug killings revives nightmares in the Philippines

MANILA – The hubris, profanities and threats unleashed by former President Rodrigo Duterte in a Senate investigation brought back the nightmare of the bloody “war on drugs” for many families of the thousands of victims shot under his rule.

As he spoke under oath at the televised hearing into the killings on Monday, a defiantly combative Duterte returned to the national spotlight for the first time since leaving office in 2022 and showed little remorse.

Critics say he got away scot-free again.

“If I get another chance, I will wipe you all out,” Duterte, 79, who is seeking a new term as mayor of his southern hometown of Davao next year, said of drug dealers and criminals.

Duterte again denied authorizing extrajudicial killings of drug suspects and said there were no “state-sponsored killings.” But he acknowledged that as mayor of Davao before he became president, he maintained a small “death squad” of gangsters whom he tasked with eliminating other criminals.

Duterte's profanity-laced outbursts frightened Randy delos Santos, who was invited by the Senate to speak about the police killing of his nephew Kian as part of Duterte's alleged war on drugs. It felt, he said, like a nightmare had returned.

“I had a frightening feeling that thousands of innocent people could be shot again,” delos Santos told the Associated Press on Tuesday. “I wondered why he was allowed to speak disrespectfully and given a platform to express his previous excuses.”

Duterte has turned politics in the Philippines on its head

The thousands of killings – human rights groups estimate there could be more than 20,000 – under Duterte's administration from 2016 to 2022 were unprecedented in recent Philippine history and sparked an International Criminal Court investigation as a possible crime against humanity.

They have also become a delicate fault line in the increasingly hostile rivalry between Duterte and his children, including Vice President Sara Duterte and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. They have had a bitter political dispute on key issues. While Duterte maintained good relations with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Marcos has expanded defense and military ties with the United States and its Western allies.

“It is unfortunate that drug-related crime is on the rise again. Every day you can read about children being raped, people being killed and robbed, and just recently a drug stash house in the Malacanang complex was raided,” Duterte said, referring to the presidential palace in Manila. “The purveyors of this threat are back in business.”

Duterte had previously accused Marcos of being a drug addict and a weak leader. Marcos had responded that Duterte used fentanyl, a painkiller and powerful opioid.

With Duterte appearing frail and at one point misrepresenting his age as 73, the day-long Senate hearing also served as the latest reality check on the political constraints he and his family face after giving up power.

One of Asia's most unorthodox leaders, Duterte made a controversial political name for himself with his deadly crusade against crime, profanity-laced outbursts and contempt for human rights and the West. He once called the pope a “son of a bitch” for causing a monstrous traffic jam during a visit to Manila and told then-President Obama to “go to hell” for criticizing his brutal crackdown on drugs.

Duterte's profanities became the hallmark of his political persona and some viewed him as Asia's Trump.

During a heated exchange on Monday, Duterte raised his voice against Senator Risa Hontiveros, a staunch human rights activist, who said 122 children, including a baby, were killed during his campaign. Hontiveros asked the chairman overseeing the hearing to restrain the increasingly volatile Duterte, who rambled on during her speech. He later stopped and apologized.

“You are trying to pin me down on semantics,” Duterte blurted out to Hontiveros, who shot back: “You are being pinned down by your own words.”

“You have never been mayor, prosecutor… I have been prosecutor, mayor, president and I know my job. You should say, 'Son of a bitch, stop or I'll kill you,'” Duterte told senators.

Murders left deep scars

A Roman Catholic priest, the Rev. Flavie Villanueva, showed during the hearing a list of what he said were more than 300 victims, many of them breadwinners of poor families, who were killed under Duterte's crackdown. The roll of white paper with the names of the dead that the priest unfolded was so long that it touched the carpeted floor.

Former Senator Leila de Lima, one of Duterte's most vocal critics who was arrested and imprisoned for years during his presidency, confronted him during the hearing.

The drug charges against her were fabricated by Duterte and his officials to stop their investigation into the drug-related killings, she said. She was acquitted of the charges and released last year.

“This man … has evaded justice and accountability for so long,” de Lima said of Duterte, sitting next to her.

Senator Jinggoy Estrada asked why de Lima did not file a criminal complaint against Duterte for so long.

Witnesses against Duterte, she said, were afraid to speak out during his presidency when large-scale killings occurred.

“There was an atmosphere of fear, a culture of fear and impunity,” she said. “I hope many more come out now.”

Gomez writes for the Associated Press.