“AKO po, bilang kinatawan ng Senado, habang may plataporma pa po ako, hindi po natin titigilang ihayag ang ating pagkontra sa walang saysay na ‘war on drugs’ na yan. Hindi tayo hihinto hangga’t hindi managot ang puno ng lahat ng ito.”
These were the very words of Senator Risa Hontiveros who described the war on drugs of former President Rodrigo Duterte as abusive and a failure resulting in thousands of lives killed principaly the poorest of the poor and low-level drug dealers and users.
“Hanggang ngayon, marami pa siguro kayong mga tanong kung bakit nangyari sa inyo ito, kung bakit tila walang katarungan sa ating bansa, at kung bakit hinayaan ito ng gubyerno. At tulad nitong pagtayo ng dambana, patuloy po naming pararangalan ang ala-ala ng bawat biktima ng karahasan at inhustisya.” Hontiveros said during the inauguration of the first memorial site for extra judicial killing (EJK) victims at La Loma Catholic Cemetery in Caloocan City yesterday.
Hontiveros described the bloody drug war of former President Duterte only as a destructive “war on drugs” that did not solve the problem but has inflicted far more grievous harm on Filipino families and society than from the drugs themselves.
It can be recalled that during the past Congress, Hontiveros drafted a law that will create an integrated and comprehensive public health approach to address the illegal drug use in the country.
She lamented that so many lives were killed without justice while the government during the time of the former administration poured so much money into pursuing and killing the so-called low-level dealers and users.
“Katulad po ng marami sa inyo, isa din po akong balo. Maagang nawala sa amin ang late husband kong si Frank 19 years ago dahil sa heart attack. Biglaan lahat. Biglang mag-isa. Biglang solo mom. Biglang breadwinner. Siguro po marami sa inyo halos ganito rin ang naramdaman pero sigurado times 100 pa dahil sa karahasang nakapalibot sa pagkamatay ng inyong mga mahal sa buhay,” Hontiveros said.
Hontiveros said this failure of the past administration of Duterte had done little to reduce drug use and instead had resulted to a devastating human rights consequences violating many lives.
She added that the past administration policy was used as an excuse to torture people, to do the extrajudicial killings and to corrupt and twist the law to their own ends.
“At tulad nitong pagtayo ng dambana, patuloy po naming pararangalan ang alaala ng bawat biktima ng karahasan at inhustisya. Alam ko po na walang dambana ang makakaalis ng inyong mga sugat, pagdurusa at labis na pagkalungkot. Pero sana ay maging konkretong simbolo at paalala po ito ng aming pakikiisa sa inyong laban para sa katarungan, para sa kapayapaan, para sa paghilom,” Hontiveros said in her speech.