The Lingering Shadow of Rodrigo Duterte’s Drug War in the Philippines — SkimNews
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- Salvacion Ramos and Llore Pasco lost their daughter and two sons respectively to police killings in 2017, and now raise their orphaned grandchildren while pressing for justice through the ICC and a new Truth Commission.
- The ICC trial of Rodrigo Duterte is scheduled to begin November 30, with prosecutors identifying 78 victims (76 alleged murders, 2 attempted murders) from 2011-2019; if convicted, he would be the first former president found guilty by the court.
- Senator Ronald dela Rosa, who as police chief launched the "Double Barrel" program that killed an estimated 30,000 people, is currently at large after an attempted arrest on May 11, 2025 ended with him taking refuge inside the Philippine Senate as shots were fired.
- President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. shifted from declaring in March 2024 that the ICC had no authority over the Philippines to allowing Duterte's arrest via Interpol Red Notice at Manila's airport on March 11, 2025, though he never openly opposed the drug war itself.
- The DAHAS project at the University of the Philippines documents that 200-300 drug war deaths still occur annually under Marcos, one-third in police operations and the rest mainly from hired killings for under $100; researcher Joel Ariate called Marcos's "bloodless" war "pure propaganda."
Why it matters: With only five cases resulting in convictions of nine police officers, 63% of voters still trusting Duterte two months after his arrest, and low-ranking officers who participated in killings still in their jobs, the ICC trial and Truth Commission face structural resistance that could allow the drug war's institutional culture to persist into the next Philippine election cycle.
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