De Lima: NTF-ELCAC should be ‘demolished, dismantled’

MANILA — If recently-released former Senator Leila de Lima were to grade the human rights situation in the Philippines with 1.0 being the highest and 5.0 the lowest, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. would get a passing grade while former President Rodrigo Duterte would fail.

WATCH: Former Sen. Leila de Lima arrives at the UP School of Economics for a wide-ranging town hall discussion with UP students. pic.twitter.com/SoER6aVDG0

— Mike Navallo (@mikenavallo) December 12, 2023

“You know, kung ako ang tatanungin, I’m not into giving numerical rating to anything. But since you asked for it, I’d say I’d give it a 3.0 — not so good and not so bad. Because well, there are still political prisoners suffering in jail for common political crimes just as I was made to suffer for about 1 year into the Marcos administration. But compared to the Duterte administration, which is for me, a definite 5.0, I think the human rights situation now is better,” she said at a student-organized townhall discussion at the University of the Philippines School of Economics Tuesday.

“Surprisingly, the current president has no repressive or oppressive policies, at least evidently. Yes, there are still killings but not of the same magnitude as the previous administration. I don’t see any indication of state-sponsored or state-inspired killings. So I say that the human rights situation now is better so I’d give it a 3.0, so far,” she added.

Dahas, an independent monitor of drug-related killings in the Philippines based at the University of the Philippines Third World Studies Center counted 488 deaths under the Marcos, Jr. administration as of December 7, 2023 or almost 18 months into the new administration.

In contrast, thousands were reported killed in the first 6 months of Duterte’s administration alone in what authorities blamed on “nanlaban” or drug suspects allegedly resisting arrest.

“And insofar as the extrajudicial killings are concerned, we are of course hoping against hope there would really be positive developments in terms of the issue on the International Criminal Court (ICC), the rejoining of the Philippines in the Rome Statute and the ICC and the cooperation of the Philippines to the ICC probe… Sinabi naman niya that it’s now under study and I do hope that his advisers would give him the right advice into the matter,” she said.

Duterte in March 2018, unilaterally withdrew from the Rome Statute which created the ICC, which took effect in March 2019.

Marcos has said he is studying rejoining and cooperating with the ICC in its drug war probe.

Among the positive developments De Lima listed under the Marcos presidency is the announced resumption of peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

“We can expect less filing of bogus criminal cases against mass leaders identified with the militant left or with activists. And we can see less repressive actions also against peace advocates. We can see, we can anticipate that there’s greater chance of more political prisoners being freed,” she remarked.

But she warned that the current administration must rid itself of the “vestiges” of the Duterte regime.

“And I think NTF-ELCAC really has to be demolished, dismantled because all it has done is to sow disunity and to encourage human rights violations. So it’s time to dismantle the remnants of the Duterte administration in terms of the human rights violations and NTF-ELCAC has a lot of reckoning also to do with respect to that,” she said.

The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) is an anti-insurgency body created by Duterte’s Executive Order 70 which claimed to adopt a “whole-of-nation” approach in addressing the communist insurgency.

But rights groups and critics have blamed NTF-ELCAC for baseless red-tagging of activists, lawyers, journalists and rights defenders which allegedly led to the killings of some of them.

De Lima also praised efforts by current Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla to improve the prosecution system by “doing away or lessening” the practice of false or malicious prosecution.

A former Justice secretary herself, De Lima had accused her successor, former Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II of hiring witnesses against her — a claim Aguirre previously denied.

• Aguirre denies coercing Ragos to testify vs De Lima

“As it happened in my case that there was false and malicious prosecution because of the use of false witnesses, false testimonies, disqualified witnesses, state witnesses. Now I would like to see end of the use of false testimonies, of bogus witnesses,” she said.

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De Lima, who initiated a Senate probe early on in the drug war in 2016, eventually found herself under detention on drug charges for almost 7 years before 2 of the 3 drug charges were junked and a 3rd court allowed her to post bail last month.

• Muntinlupa court junks 1 of 3 drug cases vs De Lima
• De Lima acquitted of conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading
• De Lima allowed to post bail

She blamed Duterte for her “persecution,” claiming “bogus witnesses” were used against her.

Several witnesses have retracted their drug allegations against De Lima while more have expressed their intention to recant in her last remaining drug case.

• 'Not true': Kerwin Espinosa recants all allegations vs De Lima, says lawyer
• Another witness retracts drug accusations vs De Lima
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The Court of Appeals recently ordered the Office of the Ombudsman to act on her complaint against Aguirre and former Justice Secretary, now Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra over the use of allegedly “disqualified” witnesses against her.

• 7 more PDL-witnesses vs De Lima willing to recant
• CA orders Ombudsman to act on De Lima's complaints vs Aguirre, Guevarra

Now that she’s free, De Lima vowed to file charges against Duterte and his cohorts.

“I’ve said before that I have forgiven everyone except Duterte but it doesn’t mean that I have forgotten. I’m contemplating of taking legal action especially against the most vicious among them in my persecution including congressmen and senators, as a matter of justice,” she said.

“But that would have to take the backseat in favor of the ICC investigation. Afterall, doon naman talaga nagsimula yan, dun sa pag-iimbestiga ko sa killings na yan, even way back when I was still as CHR chairperson. We must not allow Duterte to get away with his crimes against the nation, against humanity and against God,” she added.

“So I guess my message to him is that he cannot escape justice whether in the here or now or afterlife, he will face justice. And of course, we have to tirelessly work for him to face justice in the here and now. So, Mr. Duterte, brace yourself,” she warned.

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