Philippine court acquits leading critic of “war on drugs”

A Philippine court has dismissed the last pending criminal case against former Senator Leila de Lima, ending a seven-year legal battle brought by then-President Rodrigo Duterte against one of the country’s most prominent human rights activists.

The alleged drug trafficking case was one of three charges against de Lima that led to her spending more than six years in police custody. Before her arrest, de Lima had been an advocate for thousands of victims of extrajudicial killings as a result of Duterte’s “war on drugs.”

“You will now be held accountable for your sins against the people,” de Lima told reporters outside a courthouse in Metro Manila on Monday, referring to the former president. Duterte, she said, “will be held accountable. He should be held accountable.”

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is investigating possible Crimes against humanity committed between November 2011 and March 2019 as part of Duterte’s “war on drugs” and during his tenure as mayor of Davao City on the southern island of Mindanao. Although Duterte announced the Philippines’ withdrawal from the ICC in 2018, the court can still try crimes committed before the withdrawal took effect in 2019.

De Lima’s legal and political saga parallels the course of the “war on drugs.” She opposed Duterte’s brutal policies from the beginning, when she was chair of the National Human Rights Commission and later as a senator when she launched a Senate investigation into the nationwide killings that raged after Duterte took office as president in 2016. Duterte’s government charged her with drug-related offenses and she was arrested in 2017. She was only released on bail last year.

De Lima’s acquittal should prompt the government of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to act more decisively and hold accountable the authorities implicated in the “drug war” killings, including those that continue to occur under his leadership. Marcos should recognize the need for accountability, especially since of the thousands of killings during Duterte’s term, only four cases have resulted in conviction so far, including the June 18 conviction of four police officers for the killing of a father and son in 2016. This grim record underscores the need for the ICC investigation and the Marcos administration’s full cooperation with the court.