IGINIIT ng isa sa mga lider ng House Quad Committee na pinondohan ng nakaraang mga Kongreso ay ang kampanya laban sa iligal na droga at hindi ang pagsasagawa ng extrajudicial killings kung saan nasa 20,000 ang nasawi, marami sa mga ito ay inosente at nadamay lang.

Ito ang sinabi ni Manila 6th District at House Committee on Human Rights Chair Rep. Benny Abante bilang sagot sa mga patutsada na bumaliktad na ang mga mambabatas na dating pumapalakpak sa Duterte drug war.

Iginiit ni Abante na bagamat sinuportahan ng Kongreso ang laban kontra droga ng dating Pangulong Rodrigo Roa Duterte sa pamamagitan ng pagbibigay ng pondo sa ilalim ng General Appropriations Act (GAA) hindi umano kasama rito ang pagpatay sa mga inosenteng, mahihirap na Pilipino.

“The objective of this campaign was to end the threat posed by illegal drugs, not to cut short the lives of innocent men, women, and children,” ayon kay Abante.

“The bloody drug war implemented during the Duterte administration, as explained by one of our colleagues, did not solve the drug problem. In fact, it worsened it, creating more harm than good by orphaning thousands of children who lost their parents, often the family breadwinners, on mere suspicion of involvement in drugs,” ayon pa sa mambabatas.

Sinabi pa ng mambabatas, “The victimized families, left fatherless by Oplan Tokhang and Oplan Double Barrel, are now even poorer five to ten years later. With no support from their slain breadwinners, these children and relatives struggle to get a proper education, and as a result end up as street children who often get involved in petty crimes due to their poverty. Instead of solving the problem, the previous administration exacerbated it.”

Sinabi pa ni Abante na may mga grupo na hindi nagsalita noon laban sa marahas na digmaan kontra droga ng nakaraang administrasyon, na aniya’y maaaring dahil sa mga hakbang na ginawa ng administrasyong Duterte laban sa mga taong hayagang tumutol sa kanilang kampanya kontra ilegal na droga.

“Media outlets were silenced, and those who opposed the drug war—such as lawyers, judges, and politicians—were implicated in illegal drugs. Their names were unjustifiably included in publicized drug lists, and they were later murdered because of it––with no thorough police investigation following their deaths,” paliwanag ni Abante.

“Worse, some law enforcers, particularly from the PNP, competed over who to kill, regardless of whether the targets were legitimate or not, all for the lure of substantial monetary rewards.”

“In simple terms, the Duterte government used taxpayers’ money, through intelligence funds, to kill thousands of Filipino drug suspects deprived of due process––including innocents,” dagdag pa ng mambabatas.

Paliwanag pa ng mambabatas, “it is on record, documented in the media, that Duterte emboldened the police to commit abuses and murders, by saying ‘kill them, and I’ll take care of you.”

Binanggit pa ni Abante na hindi nahuli o nasampahan ng kaso ang mga pinaghihinalaang malalaking drug lord sa ilalim ng Oplan Tokhang at Oplan Double Barrel, kabilang na si Michael Yang, maging ang dalawang magkapatid na ibinunyag ng pulis na anti-drug officer na si Col. Eduardo Acierto.