\n The Philippine Catholic Church and civil society groups launched Wednesday a fact-finding truth commission to create what they said would be a \"credible public record\" of ex-president Rodrigo Duterte's deadly drug war.\n<\/p>\n
\n The initiative was launched hours before the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced a November 30 trial start for Duterte, who was arrested last year and turned over to the tribunal over alleged crimes against humanity.\n<\/p>\n
\n Headed by a former ICC judge and backed by the influential Catholic church, the Philippine Truth and Reconciliation Commission seeks \"to establish a credible public record of extrajudicial killings and related abuses tied to the government's drug war\", it said in a statement.\n<\/p>\n
\n The five-member body is expected to start public hearings in late July, with a focus on \"documenting survivor testimonies, recommending accountability measures, and identifying institutional reforms to prevent future violence\", it added.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Our goal is to hear the victims tell their story. Our goal is to establish the truth,\" chairman Raul Pangalangan told a news conference.\n<\/p>\n
\n For their experiences to be recorded by history, \"the victims should have an active part\" in the search for justice, added the former ICC judge.\n<\/p>\n
\n Rights group say up to 30,000 people were killed in the crackdown during Duterte's 2016-2022 presidency, many of them low-level drug peddlers as well as users.\n<\/p>\n
\n Philippine police have acknowledged shooting dead more than 6,000 suspects in self-defence.\n<\/p>\n
\n Few officers have been prosecuted in Philippine courts over the killings, who included children and minors.\n<\/p>\n
\n Duterte faces three counts of crimes against humanity, with ICC prosecutors alleging his involvement in at least 76 murders between 2013 and 2018.\n<\/p>\n
\n While the Philippine government did not take part in the truth commission's formation, Manila will have the option to use potential evidence turned up by the commission to prosecute suspects, the commission's adviser Cardinal Pablo David said.\n<\/p>\n
\n The launch coincided with a nationwide manhunt for the drug war's chief enforcer, Duterte's ex-police chief Ronald Dela Rosa.\n<\/p>\n
\n Dela Rosa, a sitting senator, narrowly escaped arrest by government agents on May 11 when he sought sanctuary at the Senate building and later escaped to an unknown location.\n<\/p>\n
\n The truth commission's other members are forensic pathologist Raquel Fortun, Catholic priest and university president Danny Pilario, trauma expert Al Fuertes, and former Human Rights Watch researcher Carlos Conde.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Philippine Catholic Church and civil society groups launched Wednesday a fact-finding truth commission to create what they said would be a \"credible public record\" of ex-president Rodrigo Duterte's deadly drug war. The initiative was launched hours before the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced a November 30 trial start for Duterte, who was arrested last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-159800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n