Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs killed an estimated 30,000 people, according to the count of human rights groups. Of the 30,000, the Philippine National Police (PNP) has admitted to killing 7,000 in legitimate anti-drug operations.
The Philippine government — both under Duterte and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. — claims that local justice is working in exacting accountability on behalf of those killed without due process.
Data, however, say otherwise. Of the 7,000 killed in police operations, only 52 cases were revived for reinvestigation in 2020. These cases range from as early as 2016 to as late as 2020. The year 2020 is significant because that was when the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation was looming large over pending cases.
Under ICC rules in the Rome Statute, indications or signs of a working local justice system can move the court in The Hague to step aside. They did not. The ICC investigation is ongoing, and the threat of an arrest warrant being issued has been rumored for months already. Nothing has moved so far.
After seven months of continuous freedom of information (FOI) requests, Rappler is now able to present visual data of the 52 reinvestigated cases. The 52 cases involve 59 victims, and 162 police suspects.
Four years after this reinvestigation was launched, the results have been dismal. Most of the cases, or 32 of them, were closed without the filing of a criminal complaint.
There has only been one case of conviction, and even one case of acquittal. The government was able to file three other cases in court, their trials still ongoing as of today. There were eight cases filed before prosecutors. There are seven cases still undergoing reinvestigation.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) did the reinvestigation. According to them, there were cases where the police did not cooperate. Many cases were closed allegedly due to uncooperative families. Rappler has spoken to at least two families who have a different narrative — they wanted to cooperate, but they were being asked to produce evidence themselves. We are withholding their identities upon their request.
They tell Rappler of their frustration in their pursuit of justice, afraid to see no results. They have been subjected to pressure and continue to live in fear.
We have requested the PNP for their side, and sent numerous requests to different offices, including the office of the PNP chief, but have received no response. We have also requested the NBI for an interview to ask follow-up questions, but received no response besides acknowledgment of our request.
Missing information in this visualization is due to missing information in the NBI database itself. We can only fill out missing details if the information is available in other open-source materials.
If you know the victims or their families in this database who want to share their story, please send a message to investigative@rappler.com or the authors of this story.
Scroll down to see information about the 52 cases involving 59 victims. The cases resulted in either of the following: conviction, acquittal, ongoing trial or reinvestigation, filed in court, pending before prosecutors, or closed. Of the cases that reached court, for example, nine were victims. As you scroll down, red marks will indicate the number of victims under each case status. Click on the name of the victim to discover more details about each individual case.
ONLY SIX CASES REACHED COURT
ONLY EIGHT CASES REACHED PROSECUTORS
REINVESTIGATION IS STILL ONGOING IN EIGHT CASES
MOST OF THE CASES, OR 30 OF THEM, HAVE BEEN CLOSED WITH NO PROGRESS
– Rappler.com