House probe on VP Duterte’s alleged part in drug killings sought

ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro (left), and Vice President Sara Duterte (PPAB. Facebook)

Saying that “no one is above the law”, ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro Is urging the House of Representatives to hold an inquiry on Vice President Sara Duterte’s alleged involvement in drug-related killings during the previous administration.

“It is no wonder that VP Duterte’s position is not to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) because it would seem that she herself is involved in the drug killings and not just her father,” the teacher-solon said in a statement Thursday, Feb. 1.

On Wednesday, self-confessed former Davao Death Squad (DDS) hitman Arturo Lascañas linked the Vice President to the killings.

The lady official’s father is former president Rodrigo Duterte.

“No one is above the law. Libu- libong ang pinatay sa drug on war ng tatay ni VP Duterte na hanggang ngayon ay hindi pa nakakamit ang katarungan. Paano na sila?” asked Castro, a member of the Makabayan bloc. The Makabayan are critics of the Duterte family.

(The thousands who were killed by the drug war of VP Duterte’s father have yet to attain justice. What about them?)

“Kaya marapat na bumalik na ang Pilipinas sa ICC at mabuti na inaaral na ang administrasyong Marcos ang muling maging kasapi nito,” Castro said.

(It’s only right for the Philippines to return to the fold of the ICC and it’s a good thing that the Marcos administration is already studying this.)

It was March 2018 when then-president Duterte ordered the withdrawal of the Philippines from the Rome Statute, which created the ICC.

This, after ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced that she would start a preliminary examination against him in connection with complaints on the bloody war against drugs. — Ellson Quismorio