‘Killing is against the law’: Palace disowns Duterte’s bloody drug war legacy
MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang further distanced itself from former President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs, saying that excessive violence and extrajudicial killings should never be part of government policy.
On March 11, the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. made the historic decision to hand over Duterte to the International Criminal Court (ICC) following his arrest on an ICC warrant over crimes against humanity.
According to Palace Press Office Claire Castro, everybody is against illegal drugs but it is the execution of the drug war that warranted a further look.
“War on drugs, kasama ang tokhang, kasama ang pagpatay, walang due process, kasama ang sasabihan ng pulis na ‘sige, sabihin mo sa kanya lumaban, para matapos na, at mabawasan ang problema sa Pilipinas.’ Hindi siya dapat polisiya ng gobyerno in the first place,” Castro said in a Palace briefing on March 12.
(The war on drugs, including tokhang, the killing, the lack of due process, including telling the police ‘okay, tell them to fight back so that it is done and there are less problems in the Philippines’ — this should not be part of government policies.)
Duterte himself admitted in a 2024 Senate hearing that he instructed police officers to provoke drug suspects into fighting back so they would have a justification to kill them.
"It’s against the law. Killing is against the law. We don’t even have the death penalty," Castro said.
While some may argue that Duterte’s approach helped address drug problems, Castro questioned the long-term impact: "What about the families left behind by those suspects?"
Palace briefing quotes De Lima, Duterte critics
In the first daily Palace press briefing since Duterte’s arrest and transfer to The Hague, Castro began her remarks by quoting former Sen. Leila de Lima, one of Duterte’s staunchest critics and a victim of political persecution under his administration.
"This is not about vengeance. This is about justice finally taking its course," Castro said, quoting De Lima.
During Duterte’s presidency, Malacañang was instrumental in amplifying allegations of drug involvement against De Lima, leading to her years-long detention on what many claimed were fabricated charges. In 2018, then-presidential spokesperson Harry Roque even expressed his desire for De Lima to spend the rest of her life in jail.
Duterte is now en route to The Hague, where he will face trial before the ICC for crimes against humanity.
Drug war deaths under Marcos admin
According to government records, Duterte’s drug war claimed at least 6,000 lives. However, human rights groups estimate the number could be as high as 30,000.
While the Marcos administration has sought to distance itself from Duterte’s campaign, drug-related deaths have not completely ceased under his presidency.
The University of the Philippines Third World Studies Center’s monitoring project Sandatahang Dahas reported that 928 people have been killed in drug-related operations under Marcos' term.
One of the most widely criticized aspects of Duterte’s war on drugs was the disproportionate targeting of the poor. Images of bodies in the streets after police operations became a grim symbol of his administration’s anti-narcotics campaign.
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