HUSTISYA on the civilian-led Truth Commission
KARAPATAN Public Information
PRESS STATEMENT
27 May 2028
For reference: Atty. VJ Topacio and Lean Porquia, Hustisya National Board members
through KARAPATAN Public Information Desk, 09189790580
HUSTISYA on the civilian-led Truth Commission
Rights group HUSTISYA acknowledges the newly launched Truth Commission, an announced civil society initiative, that will delve into the extrajudicial killings in former President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war, and the importance of ascertaining the structural and institutional roots that engendered the thousands of killings in Duterte’s anti-narcotics campaign.
Such killings reportedly continue under the Marcos Jr. administration, with at least 1,184 drug-related killings (as of March 6, 2026) referred to by the UP Third World Studies Center’s Dahas Project. Arbitrary drug lists continue to exist in communities. It is imperative that no one, including the current administration and its State agents, is spared from scrutiny, as the majority of both direct and indirect perpetrators of killings and other rights violations committed in the name of the drug war remain free from accountability.
It is also imperative that in truth-seeking efforts, the political, economic and social contexts of the drug war as well as that of the main blueprints of suppression of rights are scrutinized. This should include the conduct, implementation, and massive impacts of policies of the government regarding counter-insurgency, the militarized pandemic response, and the attacks against the political opposition.
While up to 30,000 drug suspects were reportedly killed by Duterte’s police and state-sanctioned vigilante squads, the regime also killed 422 activists and left another 574 surviving attempts on their lives, as well as 21 victims of enforced disappearances. This includes our loved ones, who were killed in cold blood by Duterte’s police and military. Currently, there have been at least 135 activists and ordinary civilians killed extrajudicially under Marcos Jr., while at least 20 desaparecidos remain missing.
It is important that these efforts open the floodgates for all information and details into the operations of the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, who were behind these killings and have been operating systematically upon orders of Malacanang. It is likewise important to establish how the Davao Death Squad operates within the PNP, the Department of Interior and Local Government as well as the National Police Commission from the Duterte to the Marcos Jr. administration.
HUSTISYA, as an organization of families of victims of extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations, remains committed in the struggle for justice and accountability amid State-perpetrated violence, and will monitor the commission’s initiatives and efforts.
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KARAPATAN is an alliance of human rights organizations and programs, human rights desks and committees of people’s organizations, and individual advocates committed to the defense and promotion of people’s rights and civil liberties. It monitors and documents cases of human rights violations, assists and defends victims and conducts education, training and campaign. It was established in 1995.