A man who voted for President Rodrigo Duterte in the last presidential elections has turned his back on the country’s Chief Executive after his son was allegedly executed by police in Davao.
Denise David, the father of 21-year-old John Jezreel, who was killed last year in Manila, said they filed charges against the police officers involved in the killing of his son but the case has not prospered so he decided to bring their fight for justice to the International Criminal Court.
David said he filed the case with the ICC because Philippines’ justice system is “paralyzed.”
“Ang justice system natin ay paralisado na kaya napag-isipan kong makapagsampa na ng kaso baka ang makatulong na sa ’kin ay international na,” he told a television interview on Wednesday, a day after they filed a new complaint against Duterte before the ICC.
(Our justice system is already paralyzed that’s why I thought it’s better to file a case before the International Criminal Court.)
“Magwa-one year na po kaming nag-file sa Ombudsman. Pero until now, wala pa pong reply ’yung police. Tapos nakita ko pa po na si Leandro Gutierrez, promoted pa as station commander sa MPD station 3,” his wife Kathy added, referring to one of the accused police officers.
(It’s been almost a year since we filed charges against the police officers before the Ombudsman. But until now, the police have not replied yet. Then one time, I saw that Leandro Gutierrez was even promoted as commander of Manila police’s station 3.)
Atty. Maria Kristina Conti, Davids’ lawyer said they had asked for the suspension of the police officers involved in the killing of their son to prevent them from possibly tampering with the evidence. But their plea did not prosper.
Conti said David’s case is just one of the many cases that demonstrates how ineffective our justice system is in prosecuting not only the “small fishes” involved in the drug war killings, but also the President, whom she said is behind a “policy of mass murder.”
“We think yung prosecution ng ‘big fish,’ of the person who ordered everything—unable ang Pilipinas to prosecute him. Bakit? First, he said he’s immune. That’s the President’s stand. Second, the law itself says so,” she said.
The David couple said he and his wife are still finding it hard to move on from the untimely death of their son because of the slow justice system. He said he now regrets voting for Duterte during the 2016 polls after they themselves were hit by the drug war.
“Di naman ako galit sa pangulo e. Sa totoo nga, binoto ko siya e. Pero ngayon nagsisisi na ako dahil naramdaman ko nung ako ang tinamaan sa nangyayaring drug war e. Napakahirap po talagang tanggapin,” he said.
(I’m not mad with the President. In fact, I voted for him. But now, I regret it because I felt what others felt when I was hit by his drug war. It’s very hard to accept.)
David was joined by six other relatives of drug war fatalities in the second complaint lodged against Duterte before the ICC, following a complaint filed by
Jude Sabio, lawyer of confessed former “Davao Death Squad” member Edgar Matobato.
But Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque had shrugged off the new complaint, saying it was merely a communication that had not been acted upon by the ICC.
“Anyone can file a communication. Even the Pope has a communication filed against him,” he said.
He had already ordered the withdrawal of the Philippines from the treaty that created the ICC after the tribunal said it has begun the preliminary examination on the communication filed against the President.
But critics had questioned the notice to withdraw has been questioned before the Supreme Court, which is now headed by Chief Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, whom Duterte appointed following the ouster of Maria Lourdes Sereno.
