Solon: Probe VP Sara’s link to Tokhang killings

House Deputy Minority leader France Castro called for a congressional inquiry into the allegations linking Vice President Sara Duterte to extrajudicial killings in the anti-drug war when she was still mayor of Davao City in 2012.

Duterte denied the allegations and dared her accusers to file formal charges in connection to their allegations.

“Based on the self-proclaimed witness [Arturo Lascañas], I was involved in Oplan Tokhang, the Davao Death Squad, and incidents of murders or extrajudicial killings in Davao. This is a new script,” Duterte said in a statement.

“In the years that I served as Vice Mayor and Mayor of Davao City, my name was never once associated with this issue. Suddenly there was a witness against me when I was elected Vice President. Now I am one of the accused in the International Criminal Court. It is evident that my name was intentionally linked to this matter to implicate me in the ICC,” she said, noting the timing of the accusations.

Castro, however, said the vice president’s alleged involvement in extrajudicial killings in Davao during her father’s bloody war on drugs must be investigated.

“It is no wonder that VP Duterte’s position is not to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) because it would seem that she herself is involved in the drug killings and not just her father,” Castro, nominee of ACT Teachers party-list group, said.

“No one is above the law,” Castro said. “Thousands were killed in the war on drugs of VP Duterte’s father who have not yet achieved justice.”

Senator Ronald dela Rosa also challenged Lascañas, a former Davao police officer and an alleged member of the original Davao Death Squad, to prove the accusations he made in a 186-page affidavit submitted to the ICC.

Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra, for his part, said the ICC may issue a warrant of arrest against officials of the Philippine government, but its enforcement is another matter.

Guevarra, who used to be Justice secretary under the Duterte administration, said the Philippine government’s cooperation is crucial in carrying out any ICC arrest warrant.

Guevarra said the issuance of a warrant is based on the ICC pre-trialchamber’s assessment of the existence of a reasonable ground that a person has committed a crime.

The ICC prosecutor, he said, must investigate evidence that is both “incriminating and exonerating.”

“In other words, his investigation must be free from bias and prejudice; otherwise, it is insufficient for the issuance of a warrant,” Guevarra said.

Lascañas claimed Duterte orchestrated “Oplan Tokhang” in Davao City during her stint as mayor in 2012.

He said his affidavit contains information on the alleged killings perpetrated by former President Rodrigo Duterte and the involvement of his daughter Sara in the extrajudicial killings in Davao City.

The vice president previously said she will only face any accusations linking her to the DDS before a Philippine court, pointing out that it was only when she was elected to the second highest ranking position that her name was linked to the controversial group.

“Let us not humiliate our nation in the whole world by allowing foreigners to interfere and intervene in Philippine affairs,” she said.

However, Guevarra pointed out that the government’s legal position to not cooperate with the ICC has not changed.

“It is not affected by the winds of politics,” he said.

The Department of Justice reiterated its position that the justicesystem is working and capable of addressing internal issues without external interference.

“The Philippines is no longer a state party from the ICC Rome statute,” Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said, referring to the treaty that created the ICC.

The DOJ previously said foreign entities must first obtain the approval of several government agencies before conducting official activities within the Philippines.

In 2019, the Philippines, under then-President Duterte, withdrew from the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, after the tribunal began a probe into his bloody drug war, followed by a formal inquiry in September 2021.

Though President Marcos stated in November 2023 that returning to the ICC’s fold is under study, he recently stated that ICC is a threat to Philippine sovereignty. He also reiterated that he does not recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction over the country.

The DDS was a vigilante group that allegedly carried out summary killings of suspected criminals, including drug dealers, in Davao City. Sara Duterte was vice mayor of the city from 2007-2010 and mayor from 2010 to 2013.

Also on Thursday, House Assistant Minority Leader Arlene Brosas met with UN special rapporteur for freedom of expression and opinion Irene Khan and raised the issue of the increasing cases of state-perpetrated violence against women in the Philippines.

Brosas of Gabriela party-list group, said the government has targeted women human rights defenders in the country through intimidation, surveillance, harassment, red-tagging, abduction, and killings, affecting their vital work in the fight for human rights and social justice.

Latest data from Karapatan showed that there are 795 political prisoners in the country, and 84 were arrested under the Marcos administration.

“It is alarming how the government has been wielding its power to silence women who are fighting for the rights of the people amid the lack of decent jobs, meager wages, lack of genuine land reform, and deteriorating human rights situation in the country,” Brosas added.

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