Group appeals support for kids orphaned by Duterte’s drug war

The Children's Legal Rights and Development Center Inc. (CLRDC) on Wednesday called on the Marcos administration to provide support for the children orphaned due to former president Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs. 

During a forum organized by the Salinlahi Alliance for Children's Concerns, CLRDC deputy executive director Atty. Pamela Camacho lamented that there are no programs in place yet for the children who were orphaned or traumatized by the controversial anti-drug campaign. 

“Bigyang suporta ang mga batang naulila, na-abandona, at mga batang saksi kaugnay ng war on drugs. Hanggang ngayon, marami pa rin traumatized sa kanila,” she said. 

(Let’s give support to the children who were orphaned, abandoned, and who became witnesses in the war on drugs. Even up to now, many of them are still traumatized.) 

“Sana mabigyan po ito ng tugon hindi lang ng present government but also of all our future leaders,” she added. 

(I hope that the present administration and all our future leaders will give attention to this.) 

Citing data from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Camacho said that around 18,000 children lost a parent in the first six months of the implementation of the war on drugs in 2016.

Now that Duterte has been detained in The Hague, the lawyer underscored the importance of fighting for human rights, especially the rights of vulnerable sectors like the youth.

“Nagpapakita ito ng tapang ng mga pamilya ng biktima ng war on drugs, ng mga human rights organizations at mga human rights defenders na buong tapang na nilabanan ‘yung mga threats and harassments…dahil hindi sila tumigil para makamit ang hustisya sa kabila ng mga pananakot at panggigipit,” Camacho said.

(Duterte’s arrest shows the courage of the families of the drug war victims, human rights organizations, and human rights defenders who bravely fought the threats and harassment...because they didn’t stop until justice was served.) 

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin "Boying" Remulla had admitted that the Philippine justice system failed in the cases of alleged extrajudicial killings in the Duterte administration's war on drugs.

Duterte on March 11 was arrested on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court and he has since been detained at The Hague Penitentiary in the Netherlands to face charges of crimes against humanity. 

The deaths reached around 6,000 based on police records, but human rights groups contend that the deaths were as much as 30,000, including vigilante killings.—LDF, GMA Integrated News