Prosecute Duterte! Justice for the victims of the deadly drug war!
Malaya Movement USA welcomes the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) decisions to both resume its investigation into crimes against humanity committed under the Philippine government’s “war on drugs” and reject the Philippine government’s appeal to block that investigation. The announcement means respect for the humanity of the poorest Filipinos prevails over vile attempts by the Marcos-Duterte political alliance to escape justice.
Contrary to the Philippine government’s police reports that extrajudicial killings under the drug war, largely perpetrated by the Philippine National Police itself, have taken the lives of over 6,000 impoverished Filipinos, human rights groups and watchdogs put the number at more than 30,000. Current President Marcos Jr. refuses to cooperate with the ICC, due in part to the fact that his administration has continued the war on drugs and saw to the slaying of at least 342 Filipinos without due process, trial, or arrest.
While Malaya Movement USA applauds this recent ICC decision, we continue to do our part as US-based Filipinos to seek justice beyond the halls of the Hague. It is imperative that US legislators cease the United States’ role in enabling the drug war and its past and current orchestrators through the passage of the Philippine Human Rights Act to suspend security assistance that funds the extrajudicial killings by state forces.
The Malaya Movement was urgently founded by Filipino community leaders based in the United States in 2018, at the time when drug war killings were estimated by human rights groups at 27,000. We remain alert to the developments of the ICC investigation and continue to direct our nationwide membership to expose the drug war that was started by the previous Duterte administration and the atrocious continuation by the Marcos Jr. government. We continue to turn public opinion against its orchestrators and grow public opposition that will achieve genuine justice and accountability for tens of thousands of bereaved Filipino families.
