‘God never sleeps’: Philippines opponents of Duterte’s drug war

Manila, Philippines (TIP): Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly war on drugs has always faced strong opposition on the home front. This week, he was arrested and transferred to the International Criminal Court at The Hague to face crimes against humanity charges.
AFP speaks to four key opponents of Duterte’s years-long crackdown against drug users and dealers that rights groups say killed tens of thousands of people.
– The priest –
The news of Duterte’s arrest on March 11 took several minutes to sink in for rights advocate Father Flaviano Villanueva. But when it did, the Manila-based priest told AFP that he immediately thought: “God never sleeps.”
Villanueva has spent years assisting the families of those killed in the drug crackdown.
He said he told the widows he works with that “justice comes in different shapes”.
“Legal justice is an expression of healing, especially in this situation, where Duterte’s arrest is a manifestation of him paying for his sins.”
But the killings were not solely the former president’s responsibility, he said.
“He was merely the architect. There’s also the carpenter, the mason, and the blacksmith. Everyone with blood on their hands must be accountable.”
Even Filipinos who quietly applauded the drug war needed a personal accounting, Villanueva added.
“We can call it a national atonement.”
– The jailed senator –
Former senator Leila de Lima spent six years in a jail cell on drug charges she and rights groups maintain were trumped up to silence her anti-drug war campaigning.
On Tuesday, she was in a Manila mall when news of Duterte’s arrest flashed across social media.
“I asked myself, ‘Is this really it?'” she said. “I still couldn’t completely believe the warrant was there already.”
While de Lima said she was thrilled he had been unable to “wiggle his way out”, her happiness was muted.
“The wheels of justice are turning, but (I also feel) bitter and sad, because it took an international tribunal to be able to really do concrete things,” she said.
Local authorities, however, now had a chance to make their mark, she said, by targeting lower-level accomplices, “especially gunmen”.
“They should keep the ball rolling by filing the appropriate charges and prosecuting them,” said de Lima. (AFP)