This photo taken on March 7, 2017, shows the dead body of Valien Mendoza, a suspected drug dealer, gunned down by unidentified assailants in Manila. AFP PHOTO / NOEL CELIS
MANILA, Philippines — Senatorial aspirant and retired Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Guillermo Eleazar believes that the Philippines should face the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigating President Rodrigo Duterte administration’s controversial war on drugs.
“Alam mo para sa akin, wala naman tayong dapat na itago. From the very start, even the PNP is in the middle of the controversies, ay laging ang aking paninindigan noong una pa man ay kung tama ay tama, ang mali ay mali. At wala nang dapat itago, at kung may pagkakamali, ay wag nating panindigan,” Eleazar said over ANC on Tuesday when asked if the government should allow the entry of ICC investigators in the country.
(You know, for me, we have nothing to hide. From the very start, even the PNP is in the middle of the controversies, I always stand to this: What’s right is right, and what’s wrong is wrong. We should not hide something. And if there are mistakes, we should not stand by it.)
When pressed if the Duterte administration should face the ICC probe, Eleazar said: “Yes.”
Eleazar also said that he would also welcome, and even encourage local investigation on government’s conduct of war on drugs.
“Kung may imbestigasyon, parehas naman yan, eh wala pa man yan, even sa atin ngayon, domestically. Kung may imbestigasyon, we welcome that. In fact, we encourage that, para wag naman unfairly na maisama yung mga tao na nagta-trabaho ng maayos dito,” Eleazar explained.
(If there is an investigation, which is fair, even it does not take place yet, even here now, domestically. In fact, we encourage that, so the personnel who do their job accordingly do not get dragged from this unfairly.)
The ICC has suspended its investigation upon the request of the Philippine government to give way to domestic efforts to investigate these crimes.
It was in Eleazar‘s term as PNP chief that he opened records of 52 drug war cases to make way for the Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation. This also became the basis used by the Philippine government to seek the deferment of ICC probe.