FORMER senator and Justice secretary Leila de Lima is recommending that the State make amends for the extrajudicial killings (EJKs) of thousands of Filipinos during the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte.
In a statement on her official Facebook account yesterday, the first nominee of the Mamamayang Liberal said her party-list group will file a bill for the creation of an EJK compensation fund to benefit the orphans, widows, and bereaved relatives of the slain victims.
She said the victims’ families need to be supported in sustaining their efforts to obtain justice for the murder of their loved ones.
“The arrest of Duterte by the International Criminal Court (ICC) is an important step towards attaining justice. This is the fruit of our collective work in ensuring that the powerful individuals behind the brutality of the drug war are held accountable,” she added.
Human rights groups estimate 30,000 people were killed during Duterte’s drug war, including vigilante-style executions.
De Lima said the government’s own count — 6,252 deaths in police operations as of May 2022 — paints a damning picture of “state-sponsored bloodshed.”
De Lima cautioned the victims’ families that Duterte’s camp will try to fight both on and off the court to revise the narrative of his arrest for crimes against humanity.
“We all know that this fight is far from over. We must anticipate that Duterte and his allies will do anything and everything to evade culpability. They will pretend to be the aggrieved party and try to get back to a position of power. It will require all of us watching and working together to bring those liable to justice,” she said.
De Lima, who was detained for seven years on trumped-up drug charges by the Duterte government, said the arrest and subsequent detention of the former president in a facility in The Hague to await trial for his crimes is only one brick tumbling from a wall that has to be torn down.
“This is only the first step. The real battle is in ensuring that those responsible shall be made to pay for each life that was taken,” she said.
