(UPDATE) AS the International Criminal Court (ICC) case against former president Rodrigo Duterte gathers momentum, human rights lawyer Katrina Conti, who represents victims of the Philippine drug war, has added her voice to calls to establish a Truth Commission.
In an interview, Conti emphasized that while Duterte’s trial is a milestone for international justice, it alone cannot capture the full scale or systemic nature of the atrocities committed.
A national Truth Commission, Conti said, could fill that gap — by creating space for both victims and perpetrators to come forward, tell the truth, and begin a long-overdue reckoning with the country’s culture of impunity.
“We need to go to the root,” Conti said. “A Truth Commission would not only record what happened — it would expose why it happened, who enabled it, and how we make sure it never happens again.”
The proposal to set up a Truth Commission on Duterte’s deadly drug war was raised in January by the quad committee of the House of Representatives.
UP professor Randy David had also called for the creation of such a commission in 2024.
The proposed Truth Commission would be modeled on those seen in countries recovering from state violence or dictatorship. From South Africa to Colombia, such bodies have helped reveal hard truths while creating pathways for institutional reform and national healing.
Conti envisions a commission that is independent, inclusive and grounded in Philippine law — possibly through legislation informed by a Supreme Court ruling that would grant it official status.
Its mandate would include documenting testimonies from survivors, family members of victims, and even perpetrators — those who pulled the trigger, gave the orders, or kept silent.
“Some may call it reconciliation; others may call it closure,” she said. “But at its heart, it’s about the truth. We can’t have real justice without it.”
In the same interview, Conti challenged the way critics attempt to minimize accountability by contesting the estimated death toll from the drug war.
“Whether it’s 29,000 or 30,000 — it doesn’t matter,” she said. “These are not just numbers. Each one was a life taken without due process. A child lost. A parent buried. A future erased.”
Conti pointed out that many victims were poor, voiceless and forgotten — killed in dark alleys and buried without justice.
“They were the perfect victims,” she said. “No lawyers. No media attention. Just families left behind to grieve in silence.”
A Truth Commission, she argued, would give these families a chance to speak — not just in court, but in the national conscience.
Crucially, the commission would not stop at victim testimonies.
Conti said perpetrators — whether police, officials, or those who ordered killings — should be given a legal platform to tell their side of the story.
“It’s not about vengeance,” she said. “It’s about breaking the silence. If those who carried out the killings can explain how it happened, what they were told, what they believed — they help us understand the system that allowed this to take root.”
But Conti also acknowledged the emotional and political complexity of such a process.
“It depends on how it’s designed. If the most responsible face trial, then maybe the public can accept that some truth-tellers might be spared jail,” she said.
Conti’s call for a Truth Commission is grounded in a grim diagnosis of the country’s justice system: it failed. And not just in the courts, but from the very first step — evidence gathering, police accountability and community silence.
“It’s not just a broken judiciary,” she said. “It’s a culture. A climate of impunity that dates back to the Marcos dictatorship.”
She traced the roots of extrajudicial killings back to the 1970s — when so-called “salvaging” of activists became normalized. Despite civil compensation and scattered memorials, full justice has remained elusive.
“It took us 30 years to even start healing from Marcos Sr. Will we wait another 30 for Duterte?”
Conti said Duterte’s trial will be “long and windy,” and victims’ participation at the ICC is limited. A Truth Commission, meanwhile, would require political will — a commodity in short supply.
Still, she’s hopeful that civil society, survivors, and a new generation of Filipinos will push for it.
“We need to protect each other,” she said. “Because if we don’t uncover the truth now — who will be the next target?”
