Liezel Asuncion, widow of slain labor leader Emmanuel “Ka Manny” Asuncion, recounted the harrowing events of that day, detailing how the police raided their home and shot her husband. “They claimed my husband fought back, but I was there—I saw what really happened,” she said. Asuncion highlighted the use of defective search warrants and fabricated charges that have plagued similar cases against activists.
ACT Chairperson Vladimer Quetua said the complaint filed “is clearly another attempt to stir trouble and divert attention away from Vice President Sara Duterte’s misuse of public funds, whether in the Office of the Vice President or Department of Education.”
“There is no difference (between Marcos Jr. and Duterte). If not slapped with trumped up charges, people are being killed to silence them,” Defend Southern Tagalog spokesperson Charm Maranan said during the program at the Liwasang Bonifacio.
Jerrie Abella, an AI campaigner, detailed the three critical stages where human rights violations occur: during arrests, within drug detention centers, and post-release. Abella described so-called “drug rehabilitation centers” as punitive detention facilities where individuals, including adolescents, are subjected to invasive drug tests and forced treatment. These centers, he said, do not offer rehabilitation but instead serve as sites of coercion.
Former Bayan Muna Representative Neri Colmenares, who has represented the families of drug war victims and a counsel of complainants before the International Criminal Court (ICC), said that the testimony of Duterte exposes the narrative of “nanlaban” as false, rendering the police’s claim of self-defense obsolete.
“The victims, families, have to rely on their own resources. They did not receive any sort of help from the government, especially from the police,” said Ephraim Cortez, president of National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL).
The group said that Duterte is not only responsible for the thousands of drug-related killings but also for the summary execution of 422 political activists and the frustrated extrajudicial killing of 544 others.
The Marcoses’ return realized by Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s apparent presidential win based on unofficial count is not the only political family dynasty comeback the Philippines witnessed in the 2022 elections. Political dynasties that have been involved in many irregularities have successfully reclaimed seats in the local and national offices.
Apart from supporting the ICC probe, families of tokhang victims say it’s also important for the country’s next leaders to have concrete plans and programs for the victims of President Duterte’s drug war. Their plight and search for justice must be acknowledged at the very least.
In the Philippines, Facebook removed 57 fake Facebook accounts, 31 Pages and 20 Instagram accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers.
By RENAN ORTIZ