Manila in the Philippines — Ephraim Escudero had been missing for five days when a neighbor showed his family a news clipping.
The bodies of the two unidentified men were found in Pampanga province, about five hours away from their homes in Laguna province, east of Manila, but the report includes enough details to identify them and their families I knew it instantly. “It was Ephraim,” said her sister Sheila.
“both [victims] “He had duct tape wrapped around his head,” Sheila recalled. “[Ephraim] It was Hokutai. His hands were behind his back. His legs were bound with plastic and brown packing tape. He also had a gunshot wound. ”
When 18-year-old Ephraim first went missing in September 2017, local police showed little interest in helping. Investigators in Pampanga acknowledged that Ephraim may have been killed in the drug war waged by then-President Rodrigo Duterte, but after the family submitted evidence, they said, I haven't even heard of it,” Escudero said. “They were just playing around and pretending they were investigating, but that's not really the case.”
Seven years and one more president later, Escudero is far from finding justice.
Data from the Dahas Project, an initiative of the University of the Philippines, shows drug-related homicides have declined since their peak in 2017, but have begun to rise since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took power.
Dahas recorded 331 drug-related deaths and injuries in 2023. This is seven more than the 324 deaths recorded in 2022, 149 in Duterte's last six months as president, and 175 in the six months since Marcos took office on June 30. It becomes.
Philippine National Police Chief Benjamin Acorda Jr. said police drug raids continue to kill people after Daha City project data showed there were 28 drug-related homicides in January. The company admitted in February that it had been done.
He insisted the killing was unintentional.
“There will be offensive operations.”[s]” Acorda said. “We want it to be done with integrity.”
Marcos has repeatedly urged the government not to cooperate with investigators at the International Criminal Court (ICC), who are investigating Duterte for thousands of murders in the years leading up to his withdrawal from the ICC in 2019. He gave me orders.
Many speculate that the ICC will issue an arrest warrant for Duterte in the coming months, but the Philippine National Police has already promised not to execute the warrant.
Nevertheless, Escudero and other victims see the ICC as their last hope for justice. Since 2016, there have only been three prosecutions for extrajudicial killings related to the drug war, according to a U.S. State Department report.
Jane Lee, whose husband Michael was killed in a 2017 police operation, said Marcos “does not support the victim's family.”
Both Lee and Escudero have received support from Rise Up for Life and for Rights, an organization that helps women who have lost relatives to the drug war.
“We still say the same thing,” Lee said. “Nothing has really changed.”
'Collateral damage'
Lee initially hoped that Duterte's tough anti-drug campaign would “clean out” drug use in her neighborhood in Caloocan, a city in Metro Manila.
But when the killings started, many of the victims “were not users or sellers,” she said. “I ended up becoming collateral damage.”
A bloody anti-drug campaign has not had the impact President Duterte had promised. “The drugs are still there,” she said. However, under the Marcos administration, the government has failed to provide support to the families of the victims left behind.
“In some ways, the situation is even worse,” Lee said. “I am a single parent. If my husband were alive, my life would be different. [still] It's tough. But I'm the only one.
“There are no programs for the children left behind,” she said. “We have received no help or support.”
During the 2020 coronavirus lockdown, police began visiting the homes of Mr Lee and other drug war victims to ask if they wanted to take legal action, but this was due to pressure to avoid attracting the attention of the ICC. It was seen as a flimsy attempt to . Lee said his home visits continued until recently. She was unsure whether police continued to visit her other family members.
However, filing a lawsuit in national courts remains a futile exercise.
Christine Pascual has filed a lawsuit against the police officer who killed her 17-year-old son, Joshua Laxamana, while he was in Pangasinan, north of Manila, in 2018 for a video game tournament. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, but was dismissed in 2020.
Pascual said the pending ICC investigation has “reduced the heaviness” he has felt since his son was killed.
She said she was “very disappointed” when the case was dismissed. “There is no chance for justice in the Philippines.”
Of all the cases filed against police involved in drug war killings, only one remains active in local court.
Christina Conti, an attorney with the American People's Lawyers Union, which is involved in the remaining cases, said navigating the court system is like “shooting for the moon.”
The government has informed the ICC that it is investigating certain drug war cases.
Conti said the case involved a police officer who was allegedly “assaulted” and was not the kind of investigation that family members, activists and lawyers thought was necessary.
“What we want to ask is, is there something wrong with the drug war? Is there something wrong with the police too?” she said. “If you express that [that way]In a neutral way, you say, “Why did my son die? ”
“Little specks” of hope
The Marcos administration has yet to give victims' families a reason for hope.
Joel Aliate, principal researcher at the Dahas Project, noted that since Acorda took over as police chief in April 2023, homicides have decreased in many regions of the country, including Metro Manila. . However, murders are on the rise in Duterte's hometown of Davao. His son Sebastian is the mayor.
Ariate said the improvements made by Acorda are still not enough.
Arriate said Marcos himself has been “vague at best” about his feelings on the drug war. Members of the Marcos administration have promised a new approach centered on rehabilitation, but there is no evidence that this is actually happening.
“The fundamental countermeasures are focused on identifying and killing individuals,” Aliate said. “So I think as long as that system and mindset exists, the murders will continue.”
Human rights groups have criticized Marcos for failing to prosecute those behind the drug war killings, but their pleas have fallen on deaf ears. Attorney General Jesús Crispin Remulla has repeatedly promised to keep the ICC out of the country and denied there is a “culture of impunity” in the Philippines.
“For us, the ICC is like a little dot of light,” Escudero said. “We know that nothing comes from regional trials. We've already seen that in other cases.”
Ephraim died leaving behind two young children.
Now, at ages 8 and 6, they are old enough to use Google, and my eldest has already started finding news about his father and asking questions.
Escudero held up a handmade placard depicting his brother smiling. She showed me the original, blurry image on her phone that had been digitally altered. “I used AI,” she said. “I didn't have any good photos.”
