DAVAO: The leading critic of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drug crime was ousted Monday as head of a Senate investigation into the campaign, which has cost thousands of lives.
Senator Leila de Lima said her probe into the surge of killings since Duterte took office on June 30 had been derailed after his allies voted to remove her as head of the Senate justice committee.
De Lima, a former justice secretary and human rights chief, had launched the Senate probe.
It heard explosive allegations last week from a former hitman that Duterte ordered hundreds of killings when he was mayor of the southern city of Davao and even shot one victim himself.
The government described the allegations as lies.
On Monday pro-Duterte senators who control the legislative chamber charged that de Lima’s investigation was ruining the country’s image and voted to remove her as head of the justice committee.
De Lima blamed Duterte for her ousting, telling ABS-CBN television: “I know I will continue to be crucified because the president himself wants that... ever since I initiated the inquiry into his extra-judicial killings.”
“I don’t know what will happen now, whether this inquiry into the extra-judicial killings will at all be credible,” she said, warning the other senators would try to conceal the president’s culpability.
On Sunday Duterte asked for a six-month extension for his war on drugs, saying there were too many people involved in the narcotics trade.
He won May elections by a landslide, after vowing to kill 100,000 criminals and rid the country of illegal drugs in six months.
“I did not realize how severe and how serious the drug menace was in this republic until I became president,” Duterte, 71, told reporters late Sunday in Davao.
Launching his crackdown was like letting “a worm out of the can” he said, adding that he wanted “a little extension of maybe another six months” to try and finish the job.
“Even if I wanted to I cannot kill them all,” Duterte said, adding a new police list of drug suspects would be unveiled.
Among the apparent victims of the war of drugs was a daughter of the late British baron Lord Moynihan, police said Monday.
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Duterte foe ousted from probe into Philippine killings
Duterte foe ousted from probe into Philippine killings
Philippine President Marcos hit with impeachment complaint
- Rage over so-called ghost infrastructure projects has been building for months in the archipelago country of 116 million
- President accused of systematically bilking taxpayers out of billions of dollars for bogus flood control projects
MANILA: Members of Philippine civil society groups filed an impeachment complaint against President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. on Thursday, accusing him of systematically bilking taxpayers out of billions of dollars for bogus flood control projects.
Rage over so-called ghost infrastructure projects has been building for months in the archipelago country of 116 million, where entire towns were buried in floodwaters driven by powerful typhoons in the past year.
The filing, endorsed by the Makabayan bloc, a coalition of left-wing political parties, accuses Marcos of betraying the public trust by packing the national budget with projects aimed at redirecting funds to allies.
Under the Philippine Constitution, passage of articles of impeachment in the House of Representatives triggers a Senate trial, where a guilty verdict would mean removal from office and disqualification from future public posts.
A copy of the complaint was filed at the House’s Office of the Secretary General “in accordance with House rules,” petitioners said Thursday, though it was not marked as received as the top official was not present.
“The President institutionalized a mechanism to siphon over ?545.6 billion ($9.2 billion) in flood control funds, directing them into the hands of favored cronies and contractors and converting public coffers into a private war chest for the 2025 (mid-term) elections,” a summary of the filing seen by AFP says.
It also accuses the president of directly soliciting kickbacks, a charge that relies heavily on unproven allegations made by a former congressman who fled the country while under investigation.
Presidential spokeswoman Claire Castro, who told reporters on Thursday that Marcos was recovering after spending the night under medical observation for an undisclosed illness, declined to discuss the filing.
“Let’s wait (to see) its contents, we cannot address that as of now if we don’t have the details of their complaints,” she said.
Marcos has consistently noted that he was the one who put the issue of ghost projects center stage and taken credit for pushing investigations that have seen scores of construction firm owners, government officials and lawmakers implicated.
But complainant Liza Maza told reporters on Thursday she believed the moves were only intended to deflect blame.
“We think the investigation he initiated is just a cover-up,” she said. “Because the truth is, he is the head of this corruption.”
Hours later, a group with ties to former president Rodrigo Duterte showed up at the House of Representatives with their own corruption-based impeachment complaint against the president, only to depart without leaving a copy.
‘Slim chance’
Thursday’s complaint was not the first filed against Marcos this week.
Under the constitution, any citizen can file an impeachment complaint provided it is endorsed by one of the more than 300 members of Congress.
On Monday, a local lawyer brought a case citing Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest and transfer to the International Criminal Court, as well as unproven allegations of drug abuse.
Dennis Coronacion, chair of the political science department at Manila’s University of Santo Tomas, said at the time that the document relied largely on “rehashed or recycled allegations” and lacked “sufficient evidence.”
On Thursday, Coronacion said the new complaint was also unlikely to go far in a Congress packed with Marcos allies.
“(It) has a very slim chance of getting the approval of the House Committee on Justice and (even less) so, in the plenary, because the president still enjoys the support of the members of the House of Representatives,” Coronacion said.
Rage over so-called ghost infrastructure projects has been building for months in the archipelago country of 116 million, where entire towns were buried in floodwaters driven by powerful typhoons in the past year.
The filing, endorsed by the Makabayan bloc, a coalition of left-wing political parties, accuses Marcos of betraying the public trust by packing the national budget with projects aimed at redirecting funds to allies.
Under the Philippine Constitution, passage of articles of impeachment in the House of Representatives triggers a Senate trial, where a guilty verdict would mean removal from office and disqualification from future public posts.
A copy of the complaint was filed at the House’s Office of the Secretary General “in accordance with House rules,” petitioners said Thursday, though it was not marked as received as the top official was not present.
“The President institutionalized a mechanism to siphon over ?545.6 billion ($9.2 billion) in flood control funds, directing them into the hands of favored cronies and contractors and converting public coffers into a private war chest for the 2025 (mid-term) elections,” a summary of the filing seen by AFP says.
It also accuses the president of directly soliciting kickbacks, a charge that relies heavily on unproven allegations made by a former congressman who fled the country while under investigation.
Presidential spokeswoman Claire Castro, who told reporters on Thursday that Marcos was recovering after spending the night under medical observation for an undisclosed illness, declined to discuss the filing.
“Let’s wait (to see) its contents, we cannot address that as of now if we don’t have the details of their complaints,” she said.
Marcos has consistently noted that he was the one who put the issue of ghost projects center stage and taken credit for pushing investigations that have seen scores of construction firm owners, government officials and lawmakers implicated.
But complainant Liza Maza told reporters on Thursday she believed the moves were only intended to deflect blame.
“We think the investigation he initiated is just a cover-up,” she said. “Because the truth is, he is the head of this corruption.”
Hours later, a group with ties to former president Rodrigo Duterte showed up at the House of Representatives with their own corruption-based impeachment complaint against the president, only to depart without leaving a copy.
‘Slim chance’
Thursday’s complaint was not the first filed against Marcos this week.
Under the constitution, any citizen can file an impeachment complaint provided it is endorsed by one of the more than 300 members of Congress.
On Monday, a local lawyer brought a case citing Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest and transfer to the International Criminal Court, as well as unproven allegations of drug abuse.
Dennis Coronacion, chair of the political science department at Manila’s University of Santo Tomas, said at the time that the document relied largely on “rehashed or recycled allegations” and lacked “sufficient evidence.”
On Thursday, Coronacion said the new complaint was also unlikely to go far in a Congress packed with Marcos allies.
“(It) has a very slim chance of getting the approval of the House Committee on Justice and (even less) so, in the plenary, because the president still enjoys the support of the members of the House of Representatives,” Coronacion said.
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