Emily Soriano was doing the laundry this week when a friend rushed into his house with news from their quest for justice.
In December 2016, armed men entered a house in their poor district north of Manila and began to shoot. They killed seven people, including three children and a pregnant woman. Ms. Soriano and her friend, Isabelita Espinosa, each lost a son, the two teenagers.
For the families of the victims, the massacre seemed insane, like thousands of other extrajudicial murders carried out during the so-called war against the drug of former president Rodrigo Duterte. Ms. Soriano and Mrs. Espinosa long held him responsible for the death of their sons – Angelito Soriano, 15, and Sonny Espinosa, 16 – who, according to them, were innocent.
The arrest of Mr. Duterte Tuesday, for accusations of crimes against humanity, was an important step towards responsibility, women said.
“What matters to me now is that justice is done,” said Espinosa. “And that we do not allow these butchers and tyrants to stay in power. We have to fight back.
While he was in office, Mr. Duterte, who appeared during an international hearing of the criminal court Friday, via the video link, publicly encouraged violence, which, according to the rights for the defense of rights, made tens of thousands of deaths. He promised immunity to the police who targeted people whom the authorities described as only “drug suspects”. Many were also killed by vigilants.
Mr. Duterte has become the presidency campaigning on his law and order diplomas. He started his deadly anti -rude campaign in the city of Davao, where he was mayor for years and is accused of having managed a team of death.
Between 2001 and 2007, Clarita Alia said that four of her sons – all adolescents accused of small crimes – had been killed at the request of Mr. Duterte. Over the past two decades, it has become a symbol of protest against the killings in Davao, where to speak against Mr. Duterte was once unthinkable.
“I am happy that he was imprisoned,” said Ms. Alia. “Now he will feel what the people he injured felt.”
Duterte was arrested on Tuesday in Manila after the International Criminal Court published a mandate accusing him of crimes against humanity. A few hours later, he was transported by plane to the Hague, where the ICC and its detention facilities are based.
He should make his first appearance before the court on Friday, according to a court manager. But his trial should not start for months.
In the mandate, three court judges wrote that they had received evidence that led them to believe that Mr. Duterte was personally responsible for killings and attacks which were “both widespread and systematic”.
Mr. Duterte argued that the ICC had no jurisdiction in the Philippines because he withdrew his court from the court while he was president. But in the mandate, the judges wrote that they were considering extrajudicial murders while Manila was a member of the Court. His supporters denounced his arrest and transfer to the ICC as a political persecution by the current president, Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. M. Marcos declared that he was conforming to Interpol, who posted the mandate of the ICC.
In Davao, the bastion of Mr. Duterte, red ribbons calling for the return of Mr. Duterte was exposed in many regions of the city. Some residents had stuck their photos on their vehicles in a demonstration of support.
Ronald Camino said only criminals were angry with Mr. Duterte. “Those who do good are those who are arrested,” he said.
In the Manila region, Ms. Espinosa learned of Mr. Duterte’s arrest in an SMS. Soon, she and Mrs. Soriano struck the doors of the neighbors and brought together relatives of other victims of the drug war. Six other women joined them and hundreds of others that afternoon and lit candles to mark the arrest of Mr. Duterte.
During this rally, at Quezon City, nearby, Ms. Espinosa cried for her son.
Ms. Soriano said that she shares a birthday with Mr. Duterte, who will be 80 years old on March 28. “I want to say to him:” I’m happy, it’s a gift for me. ” But for you, it’s bad luck because you are celebrating your birthday in prison. »»
But some Philippins found it difficult to treat their emotions.
Rodrigo Baylon’s son Lenin was killed by a wandering ball during a Calocan shooting in 2016, three days before being 10 years old.
Celebrating Mr. Duterte’s arrest, said Baylon, also meant to relive this horrible event. At the time, Mr. Duterte’s police chief Ronald Dela Rosa, who is now a senator, rejected Lenin’s death as collateral damage in the war against drugs.
“Is this what they call justice?” Mr. Baylon said. “And will justice really come from the ICC?”
He asked why a foreign court, not the Philippin government, held Mr. Duterte responsible.
“Isn’t the government supposed to help people like us?” Mr. Baylon said.
MARSE Simons Contributed reports of Paris.
