Relatives of extrajudicial killing victims and human rights advocates filed a disbarment case against former president Atty. Rodrigo Roa Duterte at the Supreme Court in Manila today, Friday.
The petitioners in the petition are led by Bayan Muna Partylist 9th nominee Lean Porquia, Atty. VJ Topacio, and Llore Pasco who all lost kin during the Duterte presidency between 2016 and 2022.
Porquia lost their father Jory, an activist who was active in feeding the poor at the height of the Covid pandemic in their native Iloilo City, in April 2020.
Shot nine times in the dead of night in his house, the elder Porquia is believed to have been assassinated in accordance with Duterte’s directive to kill activists.
In a televised address on April 1, 2020, Duterte said he will have those causing “trouble” during the imposition of the community quarantine amid the COVID 19 pandemic killed.
“I will not hesitate. My orders are to the police and military, also the barangay, that if there is trouble or the situation arises that people fight and your lives are on the line, shoot them dead. Do you understand? Dead! Instead of causing trouble, I’ll send you to the grave,” Duterte said.
Before the month ended, one of Iloilo City’s most prominent activists was assassinated.
READ: They murdered a jolly activist today
In November 25 of the same year, Topacio’s parents Agaton Topacio and Eugenia Magpantay were killed in a police raid in Angono, Rizal, seen as part of a series of assassinations of National Democratic Front of the Philippines peace consultants.
Duterte originally ordered the “mass arrest” of the consultants but later told the military and police to shoot them as “armed New People’s Army members.”
“So what will be my orders? ‘Di shoot them. Eh they will kill you anyway. So if there is an armed NPA there or terrorists, if he’s holding any firearms, shoot. And tell any… ako na ang magsagot. (I’ll take care of it.) You just shut up,” Duterte said in a November 2017 speech in Sual, Pangasinan.
In the raid that killed Topacio and Magpantay, the police claimed the elderly couple (both were 69 year old at the time of death) put up a fight using an assault rifle, various handgun and grenades.
READ: 2 more NDFP peace consultants killed; CPP condemns ‘mafia-style executions’ by police
Pasco lost two of her sons, Crisanto and Juan Carlos, during Duterte’s so-called war on drugs.
On May 11 2017, Pasco’s sons went missing on the same day and were reported by the police to have been found dead and dumped in a vacant lot on Quezon City.
Pasco said her sons had been subjects of harassment by the police on allegations of being illegal drug personalities.
READ: Mother of drug war victims back in Geneva to tell world there is ‘no justice’ in PH
The disbarment petition said Duterte should be disbarred for violations of the Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability (CPRA) and for conduct unbecoming a lawyer.
The petitioners said Duterte has shown “gross disregard for ethical standards and the rule of law through his public admissions of leading a death squad, encouraging violence and gender-based abuse, fostering a culture of impunity, and by inciting the commission of extrajudicial killings.”
Human rights group Karapatan said it supports the petition as an effort to hold Duterte accountable for human and people’s rights violations.
Church organizations and artist groups accompanied the petitioners in the filing. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
