Sotto justifies position on Duterte's war vs. illegal drugs

Senate President Vicente Sotto III defended his position in supporting the Duterte administration’s campaign against illegal drugs, amid claims that he is an enabler of the deadly law-enforcement drive.

In the "The Mangahas Interviews", Sotto said that his critics do not understand his position on the war on drugs.

“Ang aking posisyon kasi, as I said, there are four major [components of the campaign] and the Duterte administration really was hellbent on enforcement. Tama ‘yun,” the vice presidential aspirant said.

Citing data from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) from July 2016 to October 2021, Sotto said that out of the 218,000 drug operations conducted, there were 315,635 suspects arrested and 6,215 killed.

He said that the figures of drug war-related deaths submitted to the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) investigation were “bloated.”

“Ang bloated ng figures kasi na nakarating sa ICC hindi ko kasi alam kung sinong Pontio Pilato nagpadala ng mga record doon sinama pati homicide, murder, pati suicide nasa 30,000 daw ang namatay. Hindi naman,  6,215,” Sotto said.

[Figures on the number of deaths given to the ICC were bloated. Records on homicide, murder, and even suicide were included. Only 6, 215 were killed not 30,000.] 

“So kung totoo ‘yung binibintang nila kay President Duterte na talaga ang order ay patayin ay dapat 315,000 ang patay eh 315,635 ang arrested,” he said.

Sotto said that he still believes the enforcement of the anti-drug campaign by the Duterte administration “was in the right way.”

“It does not necessarily mean that it's because it’s in the right path may tama doon sa mga EJK (extrajudicial killings),” he noted.

The war against illegal drugs was one of the campaign promises by Duterte. He vowed to eradicate illegal drugs within three to six months since he assumed the presidency in 2016.

Oplan Tokhang, the police’s "knock-and-plead strategy" of convincing suspected drug personalities to stop using illegal drugs, became controversial as critics of the government claim this has left over 20,000 suspects dead.

Authorities, however, placed the fatalities at over 6,000. They also insist that the suspects were killed while fighting it out with responding law enforcers.

“Merong mali naman doon at hindi naman tayo sumasangayon din at saka naman nagkaroon ng imbestigasyon ang Senado diyan ay may mga nakasuhan diyan sa parte na ‘yan,” Sotto said.

[There were some instances of deaths that the Senate had investigated for irregularities, and some culprits have been charged.]   

“I support the war on drugs as long as there is a war on drug abuse,” he said.

In 2020, Sotto had questioned the ICC’s report indicating that there is a “reasonable basis” to believe that crimes against humanity had been committed in the Duterte administration’s drug war.

The ICC temporarily halted its probe on the Duterte administration’s bloody campaign against illegal drugs after the Philippines requested the international court to defer the investigation.

The ICC, however, still asked the Philippines for proof that it is conducting its own investigation into the drug-related killings. —LBG, GMA News