(Last of a 2-part special report)

BARELY a month into the administration of President Duterte, the former mayor of Davao City showed he was dead serious in addressing the drug problem.

On the President’s first day in office, the police hit the ground running in ways they thought was the best possible to take drugs off the streets--arresting drug suspects almost simultaneously across the country.

Because of the resulting shock and awe in the execution of the campaign, some 1.3 million people surrendered to the authorities from July 2016 to June 2017, all supposedly admitting they were hooked on drugs, according to records of the Philippine National Police.

The campaign turned bloody, however. Since July 1, police record showed their operatives have killed over 3,000 people who allegedly violently resisted arrest.

A year after, while hundreds of police operatives are facing either criminal or administrative complaints in local investigative bodies, the President is facing a similar complaint filed with the International Criminal Court for alleged “crimes against humanity”--all for the deaths of drug suspects.

Global attention

World leaders, including former U.S. President Barack Obama and former U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, international human rights groups, and foreign news agencies have criticized the President for the deaths and asking him to stop the anti-drug campaign. Forty-five out of 47 members of the United Nations Human Rights Council also made similar calls regarding killings amid the drug war.

At the outset, the police denied having any hand in what the critics called “extra-judicial killings.”

As of June 28, 2017, the Commission on Human Rights reported 442 cases of alleged extra-judicial killings involving 547 victims during the first eight months of the Duterte administration.

Of this number, the CHR said, more than half or 242 cases died during police operations; the rest by unidentified vigilante groups.

The ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group has documented cases of 50 suspects who, according to witnesses, died in the hands of the police in a multi-platform six-part series published in October 2016.

• READ: War on Drugs, The Unheard Voices

Left for dead

Complaints have started pouring in, with witnesses coming forward.

One drug suspect Efren Morillo was allegedly left for dead by gunmen. He recalled his horror and sorrow during a police operation in a house in Payatas in Quezon City on August 21, 2016.

In an interview with ABS-CBN News, Morillo said the police shot him in the anti-illegal operations in Payatas that afternoon. While lying in his pool of blood, he said said he kept his eyes closed, and tried holding his breath for half an hour.

He could feel blood leaving his body---from the gunshot wounds on his left chest that passed through his right abdomen, he said during the interview. He was in deep pain and fear.

It was a game of chance---for any slight indication of life could mean his death, he said.

He dragged his body on his hands and knees to get out of the house and escape.

The next day, according to newspaper reports, Morillo's four companions died after allegedly resisting arrest for selling drugs. Sachets of shabu and a gun were said to have been found in the crime scene.

Morillo said he was neither a pusher nor user and that the police’s alleged pieces of evidence were not there.

“Sabi ko (sa pulis), malinis po akong tao,” he recalled.

“Sabi niya: “Talaga? Bigla na lang pumutok ang baril niya. Tapos ‘yun nga, nagpatay-patayan na ko. Nagdadasal ako na huwag nang ulitin na putukan ako. Dahil ‘pag inulit, sabi ko, hindi ko na kakayanin."

“‘Yun nga, akala nila patay na kaming lima. Ang sabi [ng pulis] sa mga kasama niya: tumawag raw ng SOCO, sabihin nanlaban, iwanan ang ebidensya.”

Last March, Morillo filed a criminal complaint against the policemen and five informants with the Ombudsman.

• READ: 'Tokhang' survivor files complaint vs police, informants
• READ: 'Cops shot at Tokhang victims execution-style'

Thousands others linked to drug-peddling activities had not been as lucky. They didn’t live to tell their story.

The CHR has initiated investigations on the deaths of 276 drug suspects since May 10, 2016. So far, only three cases against policemen have been forwarded to the Office of the Ombudsman for formal complaint and investigations.

In an interview with ABS-CBN, CHR Commissioner Roberto Cadiz shared the commission’s findings.

“Pinatay nang wala sa proseso, tinorture, (nag) plant ng ebidensya, hinuli ng walang warrant of arrest. Hindi sinunod ang operational manual ng PNP,” Cadiz said of the cases.

Human rights violations

By September, the President was slowly getting global attention for his anti-drug campaign. Some supportive, others critical.

Some international leaders have reminded the President on the issue, with the Philippines a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In May, the European Union said it might suspend its trade privileges it granted to the Philippines.

Questions had been raised on the apparent pattern in the deaths of drug suspects.

Human Rights Watch said the Philippine government seemed to have unleashed mass killings.

“It is very well documented that for a period of months, on street corners, in back alleys, in slum areas in Manila---that dozens of mutilated bodies, people with gunshot wounds, stab wounds wrapped up in packing tape have been found--night after night, day after day. That is absolutely undeniable,” HRW Asia's Phelim Kine told ABS-CBN News.

“It is also undeniable that the Philippine National Police is implicated in many of these crimes. It’s also very clear that the Philippine National Police is involved in, or at least, turning a blind eye on the operations of death squads that are also leading these killing campaigns,” he said.

Jude Sabio, a lawyer who filed the complaint with ICC, cited the President’s alleged failure to own responsibility in the killings.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines expressed concern on the culture of terror, fear and impunity the drug campaign has created.

“Sa mga depressed areas natin maraming takot,” said Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, one of the most politically outspoken Filipino bishops.

“It’s a culture of fear. But it also creates a culture na hindi mahalaga ang buhay ng tao. Tapos immoral din na walang kalaban-laban papatayin mo. Walang imbestigasyon, papatayin mo.”

'Killings not state-sponsored'

However, the President and government officials said there were no systematic, organized and massive killings sponsored by state.

“I don’t think there is a pattern,” said Local Government Assistant Secretary Epimaco Densing III.

“The only pattern is this is a regular buy-bust operations of our police operations. Actually ang 3,000 [deaths] mukha lang siyang malaki. Pero compared sa naarestong mahigit na 90,000 maliit siya.”

The suspects were were killed by police in accordance with their protocols, he said.

Cops, soldiers killed, too

“Tandaan natin, itong nangyayaring patayan--nangyayari ito dahil sinasabi nating nanlaban, o lumaban itong mga drug pusher.” Densing said.

“Kasi pag ikaw drug pusher at ikaw naka-drugs, talagang ang term ng ating doctor sa DOH, nagha-hallucinate ka. At kung meron kang dalang baril, automatic yan, nagkakaroon ng defense mechanism at kapag ikaw ay huhulihin, you’d rather fight back—meron naman akong baril at hopefully makatakas laban sa kapulisan. Ang sinasabi ng Pangulo, patayin mo ang pusher kung sa tingin mo siya ay nanlaban at kung madedehado ang iyong buhay, unahan mo na. That is allowed under our laws.”

Densing said that at least 41 policemen and soldiers had been killed in the campaign against illegal drugs, and around 112 were wounded.

159 cops face ax

The PNP-Internal Affairs Service has been investigating police operations, but Densing said these have moved at a snail’s pace because of lack of manpower and witnesses.

From July 2016 to June 15, 2017, PNP-IAS investigated 1,912 drug-related cases.

As of June 20, a total of 159 policemen have been recommended for dismissal from service, 1,045 cases are in the administrative proceeding stage, while the rest are pending investigations or summary hearings.

Out of 1,781 cases, the DILG also randomly selected 25 cases and found that there was no irregularity in 23 of them last December.

“Walang bansa ang exempted from violating human rights. Meron yan, paisa-isa,” Densing said.

“As of now, maaring nangyayari paisa-isa. Kaya nga kailangan natin maimbestigahan ang nangyayari na paisa-isa na ‘yan.”

One of these was the death of Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr., and father-and-son Renato and JP Bertes. They were killed while in police custody for drug cases.

A police official and two others have also been charged in the kidnapping and murder of South Korean businessman, Jee Ick Joo inside Camp Crame. He was allegedly abducted under the guise of the drug war.

Human Rights Watch said a separate international investigation is necessary.

Kine said the PNP has rejected calls for independent investigations, effectively granting a blank check to potentially abusive elements to commit "mass murder".

“[PNP] is completely unable to investigate itself on international standards” he said.

“And so although they say that they’re doing that, we cannot take the word for it. If they are really serious into getting to the bottom of these killings, why do they not welcome an international investigation. If they’re doing everything right, then transparency is the way to go.”

Duterte backs police

The President just brushed off concerns by the international community and said he would take responsibility for the deaths.

“This is how I interpret my sacred duty to protect everybody,” he said in a speech before the League of Municipalities of the Philippines last March.

“Wala akong compromise dito. Hindi mo ako mapapa-atras maski i-demanda mo ako kung saan. No way tayo diyan.”

The DILG also said other countries should respect the policy of non-intervention.

Said Densing: “Hindi dapat makialam ang ibang bansa sa pamamalakad ng isang gobyerno, ng isang bansa. Violation 'yun.”

Not content, the President said he would pardon police officers convicted of crimes committed in performance of their duties.

“This is my order,” the President said in a speech last March 27. “Hunt for them. Arrest them if possible. If they confront you with a violent stance, especially if they’re armed and you are in danger of being killed — My God, shoot the idiot, and shoot him dead. 'Yan ang order ko ‘pag 'yan ang sinunod ng pulis and military, huwag kayong matakot. I and I alone will be liable for that.”

Just last May, the Department of Justice downgraded from murder to homicide the charges filed against Supt. Marvin Marcos and 10 other policemen in the killing of Mayor Espinosa.

Densing said the President did not encourage the killings.

“Maraming sinabi ang ating Pangulo na sinabi niya naman, kung ang pusher eh ang dala-dala niya lang ay kahoy, eh barilin niyo na lang ito sa hita para hindi makagalaw at hulihin ninyo,” he said.

A Church official was not convinced.

“Nakakaduda ‘yung kanyang paliwanag kasi wala man lang silang napakitang pinilayan. Lahat ay pinatay. So, ‘yan ay pinapakita na ang kanilang claim ay hindi totoo,” said Bishop Pabillo.