When Rodrigo Duterte ran for president eight years ago, he promised to order the police and military to hunt down and kill drug users and traffickers. He said he would grant them immunity. In the months that followed, police and vigilantes mercilessly shot dead tens of thousands of people in summary executions.
Even now, two years after Duterte left office, there has been little legal reckoning with the wave of killings: only eight police officers have received prison sentences, in connection with just four cases, with one ruling this month. And while human rights groups say there have been fewer such killings since Duterte left office, and far fewer involving government agents, a culture of violence and impunity has maintained a disturbing grip on the Philippines.
But in recent months, the legacy of Duterte’s so-called war on drugs has slowly begun to gain official attention. Lawmakers are holding several public hearings on the violence unleashed by the former president’s efforts to curb drug use and trafficking. One lawyer said Duterte’s office has counted more than 20,000 drug-related deaths in his first 18 months in office alone. Senior police officials spoke at the congressional hearing, as did the victims’ families, who relived their horrors and renewed their calls for justice.
