11/12/2025
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐ป๐ผ ๐ท๐๐๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ฟ๐๐๐ต ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐๐ฟ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ฟ๐๐๐ต-๐ณ๐ถ๐ป๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฐ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐น ๐๐ผ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐น๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ.
Nine years since the Duterte administration waged a campaign of death under the guise of his so-called โwar on drugs,โ his victims continue to await the reckoning that is due to him and to all who aided him. While the former President stands charged before the International Criminal Court of committing the gravest crimes known to humanity, his allies and enforcers elude accountability, and the stories of the victims are still stifled.
Truth demands more than remembrance. As we mark this yearโs Human Rights Day, IDEALS reiterates its call for truth and justice for the thousands of victims of rights violations.
Since 2016, IDEALS has documented over 700 cases and supported families seeking redress. The accounts we have gathered through testimonies, affidavits, case files, and legal narratives all point to an undeniable conclusion: the truth has been systemically obscured and accountability remains out of reach. Our work, alongside that of other human rights organizations and the media, has preserved evidence and ensured that victimsโ accounts remain part of the public record. Yet even the most rigorous civil society documentation cannot take the place of a national process mandated to establish the full truth.
For many, justice means seeing those responsible prosecuted and held accountable for their crimes before a court of law. But justice can also take the form of formal acknowledgment by the State of its wrongdoing, recognition of the victimsโ suffering, reparations for the losses endured, remembrance, and firm commitments to ensure that no one suffers the same fate again.
IDEALS supports calls for the establishment of an Independent Truth Commission to investigate and document grave violations of human rights. This Commission, created by law and endowed with the necessary powers to uncover and establish the truth about these violations, will play a vital role in ensuring that the real account of events will neither be rewritten, diluted, nor falsified by competing narratives and political interests. An Independent Truth Commission can ensure that the victims and their families are seen and heard, and that their memories and stories are preserved and safeguarded.
While our country is wracked by what seems to be an endless political crisis and worsening economic instability, the need to reckon with our recent past becomes even more urgent. Without this reckoning, the sins of this past are guaranteed to return and haunt us. Only by establishing the truth can we confront the reality of the atrocities committed in our time. Only then can we move forward and build a culture that holds fundamental rights paramount. Only then can we meaningfully commit to preventing such unlawful acts from ever being perpetrated again - never again.
A commitment to the truth is not a matter of political advantage. It must rise above partisan interests and reflect our shared values of due process, respect for the inherent dignity of every person, and the sanctity of human life.
Only by establishing the truth can we move forward as a nation and firmly pursue the accountability and justice our people deserve.
๐๐๐๐๐๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ง๐๐ง๐๐ ๐๐ก๐ง | ๐๐จ๐ ๐๐ก ๐ฅ๐๐๐๐ง๐ฆ ๐๐๐ฌ | ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฌ
