ICHRP Canada welcomes statement of Canadian embassy officials for PH to ‘abide by international law’

ICHRP Canada welcomes statement of Canadian embassy officials for PH to ‘abide by international law’

On ICC investigation of drug-related killings in PH

By Nestor Burgos

The Philippine Reporter

VANCOUVER–The Canada chapter of a global network concerned about the human rights situation in the Philippines has welcomed a call of Canadian embassy officials urging the Philippine government to abide by international law in relation to the Philippines’s controversial so-called war on illegal drugs.

In a statement, the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP Canada) also urged the government of Canada “to press more vigorously for this long-overdue investigation” in relation to the investigation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on killings under the bloody anti-drug campaign under former president Rodrigo Duterte.

ICHRP Canada was reacting to news reports in the Philippines quoting senior officials of the Canadian embassy in Manila.

“If the Philippines believes in upholding international law, including things like UNCLOS (United Nations Conventions on the Law of the Sea) for example, then the Philippines must also abide by international law,” senior embassy officials told select Filipino journalists on February 1, according to a report of Rappler.

Rappler reported that the officials “agreed to speak to media on the issue on the condition their names will not be published.”

The ICC, based in The Hague, on January 26 announced its decision to resume its investigation in the killings.

The tribunal, which investigates and tries grave crimes including genocides and crimes against humanity, in its report concluded that “various domestic initiatives and proceedings, assessed collectively, do not amount to tangible, concrete and progressive investigative steps in a way that would sufficiently mirror the Court’s investigation.”

The senior officials of the Canadian embassy noted the observation of the ICC.

“It is not for us to make determinations about whether [they] should or should not (investigate). They have legal expertise, and the ICC has come to [the] conclusion that investigations underway here does not satisfy the need,” Rappler quoted the senior officials.

Former ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda in 2021 said that based on preliminary investigation conducted by her office, “there is a reasonable basis to believe that the crime against humanity of murder has been committed on the territory of the Philippines between 1 July 2016 and 16 March 2019 in the context of the Government of Philippines ‘war on drugs’ campaign.”

She had cited that information gathered by her office “indicates that members of the Philippine National Police, and others acting in concert with them, have unlawfully killed between several thousand and tens of thousands of civilians during that time.”

Estimates on the number of killed in the drug war range from 5,000 to 30,000.

The Philippine government under former president Rodrigo Duterte had repeatedly claimed that those killed by law enforcers fought back.

ICHRP Canada also reiterated its call for an investigation on attacks and killings involving human rights defenders.

“In light of the ICC’s decision to resume the investigation into the drug war killings, the findings of the (International Labor Organization) mission on the attacks against working people’s freedom of association and the right to organization and the continuing reports on violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, the ICHRP-Canada reiterate our call on the UN Human Rights Council to conduct an independent investigation on the country’s human rights situation,” according to the statement issued by Rev. Patricia Lisson, ICHRP Canada chairperson.

In a separate statement, the ICHRP Global Council also lauded the ICC decision to resume its investigation.

Peter Murphy, ICHRP Global Council Chairperson

“ICHRP has full confidence in the impartiality of the ICC. We urge the ICC to vigorously pursue the full investigation of the previous Duterte administration for these crimes against humanity so that, finally, justice may be served and impunity ended,” Peter Murphy, ICHRP chairperson, said.

Murphy said the continuation of the ICC investigation “lays bare” the “culpability of the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. “in shielding the Duterte regime’s policies of impunity and state terror that killed perhaps 30,000 or more, and victimized Filipinos for six long years.”

Family members of those killed have also welcomed the decision saying these give them hope of finding justice for their loved ones.

Nanette Castillo, mother of drug war victim Aldrin Castillo, also welcomed the ICC announcement and the stand of the Canadian government.

“We are happy because we have been waiting for the investigation for a long time so that those responsible will be held accountable,” Castillo told The Philippine Reporter in an online interview from Manila.

She said the ICC investigation will even provide the opportunity for the Philippine government to prove if it was culpable in the killings.

“This is part of due process which was not given to my son,” she said.

Seven masked motorcycle-riding assailants gunned down her 32-year-old son on October 2, 2017 while he was buying from a store in Tondo, Manila. Aldrin, died from five gunshot wounds including three in the head.

Like thousands of similar killings, no arrest has been made for the murder after more than five years.

Castillo admitted that her son and eldest of three children had previously used drugs but had already stopped long before he was killed.

“He was a welder and was about to leave for Saudi Arabia to work. If he did anything wrong, why kill and not arrest him?” she said.

After five years, Castillo has not stopped crying for her son.

“I know it will not be easy and it will take a long time to find justice even with the ICC investigation. But I will not stop until I have answers and until my son gets justice,” she said.