Paul KeenanThe past is slowly catching up with President Duterte, writes Paul Keenan
“I hope that someday, those responsible for these killings will face God’s judgment, in this life or the next.”
Uttered in 2008, these were the words of Redemptorist Fr Amado Picardal, a parish priest in the city of Davao, Philippines. The cleric was at the time commenting on the escalating rate of extrajudicial killings taking place in the city as attention was drawn to the phenomenon by the visit of United Nations’ special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston.
Alarmed by the scale of apparently motiveless killings of civilians by hitmen invariably launching their attacks from motorcycles, the UN dispatched Mr Alston to look deeper into the killings for a report he subsequently penned. One extract of that report is worth quoting both for the despair contained in Fr Picardal’s statement at the time and in light of startling events in the Philippines just last week.
“One fact points very strongly to the officially sanctioned character of these killings,” Alston wrote. “No one involved covers his face. The men who warn mothers that their children will be the next to die unless they make themselves scarce turn up on doorsteps undisguised.”
Set against Fr Picadal’s lament, the report extract offers a worrying picture of killers acting with confidence of their own impunity, either from the ‘official sanction’ hinted at by Alston or from an indifferent/fearful populace.
Today it appears both elements were in play.
Corpses
In July, this newspaper dealt with the rise to the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte, the outspoken politician carving a career for himself in calling for the summary executions of drug dealers and pushers.
His vow to fill Manila Bay with criminal corpses is steadily coming to pass as more and more suspects are killed whether by vigilantes or police officers. The impunity now sensed by those involved in the killing spree is a replication of that experienced during the time Duterte was mayor of Davao. (His reaction at the time of Alston’s report on victims of extrajudicial killings was “they deserved to die” – bear this quote in mind.)
In the midst of the July article, The Irish Catholic mentioned Fr Picardal as one who has “doggedly tracked” the activities of the Davao killers, known locally under the collective title of the Davao Death Squad (DDS). It is not a title that was frivolously granted.
In April, as Mr Duterte was leading the race to the May elections, it was Fr Picardal who offered the full scale of the tally claimed by the DDS. In a report compiled for the years from 1998 to 2015, it was revealed that 1,424. Of that number, Fr Picardal stated: “There were 132 children killed (17 years and below) – 126 boys and six girls. The youngest were a 12-year- boy and a 15-year-girl. There was a nine-year-old boy who was killed by a stray bullet – he was not an intended target.”
One can add to this latter victim 14 others who were actually cases of mistaken identity. At the time, Fr Picardal predicted that “there will be more blood spilled – not just in Davao but in the entire Philippines… If the DDS is not stopped and those behind it are not held accountable, there will be a national bloodbath.”
Prediction
That grim prediction was based on the murderous promises issued by Mr Duterte on the campaign trail and borne out by vigilante activities since his election. By his 78th day in power, it has been reported, 1,508 people have been killed in police actions against drug dealers/users, while 2,035 have been murdered by vigilantes.
Today, as in 2008, Fr Picardal’s voice is lost to the indifference that accompanies the killing spree. It is a sad fact that very many ordinary Filipinos agree with the ongoing campaign against suspected criminals. Still more may be intimidated by the knowledge that at least some of the dead in Davao were believed to be members of the DDS who had either spoken out or were suspected of doing so.
Now, another self-proclaimed member of the DDS has gone public, and risks bringing to pass the judgement prayed for by Fr Picardal.
Last week, amid Senate hearings into the wave of extrajudicial killings, one Edgar Matobato presented himself before the investigating committee claim that not only had he been an assassin with the DDS, but that his work was conducted on the orders of then-Mayor Duterte.
“Our job was to kill criminals, drug pushers, petty robbers and rapists,” Matobato said.
Even more sensational claims followed. In addition to his role as a hired killer, Matobato alleged that the duties of the DDS went beyond the remit of ‘societal street cleaning’ to include killings of a more political nature. These included the murders of two prominent Davao radio presenters, Jun Pala (killed in 2003) and Fernando Lintuan (killed in 2007). Both men were critical of Mayor Duterte and had condemned the DDS on air. Both fell victim to motorcycle assassins.
Matobato also admitted his role in hurling a grenade into a mosque in 1993, an act he said was ordered by Mayor Duterte in retaliation for an earlier attack on Davao’s Catholic St Peter Cathedral that left six people dead.
Matobato is a man now living in fear as, despite requests to the Senate committee, he was denied protective custody so as to deny those behind the DDS the chance to silence him.
Whether a man of President Duterte’s bluster is capable of feeling fear at the resurfacing of allegations against him remains unclear. His rule has not yet been challenged (outside Church circles); added to which, Mr Duterte escaped prosecution in 2012 for just such allegations when the Philippine Commission on Human Rights called for murder charges against him, only to be ignored by prosecutors.
But another figure disregarding any notions of fear is Fr Amado Picardal, who was a constant thorn through the ‘Davao years’ and who survived to continue working towards the day when judgement is finally handed down for the victims of Davao’s Death Squad.