The arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for former President Rodrigo Duterte over crimes against humanity is based on evidence related to the killings of 19 individuals in Davao City and 24 others elsewhere in the Philippines.
The names of the victims submitted by the ICC prosecutor were not disclosed and, according to lawyers, may remain confidential if some families choose to protect their privacy.
The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) spoke with lawyers and civil society organizations to identify which cases the ICC may have considered when it issued the warrant.
The profiles featured here are based on publicly known cases identified by Rise Up for Life and for Rights, an alliance formed in response to the surge in drug-related killings.
Sonny Espinosa, 16
He was playing hoops with friends when gunshot rang out.
Bagong Silang, Caloocan City – December 28, 2016
Sonny Espinosa was playing hoops with friends in Bagong Silang, Caloocan City, on Dec. 28, 2016, when a gunshot rang out. They scampered to a nearby house, unaware it was a police target.
Gunmen opened fire on the house killing seven, including Espinosa, two of his teenage friends, and a pregnant woman. He was 16.
The authorities blamed masked men riding in tandem for the shooting. But families of the victims later found out that it was part of the government’s Oplan Tokhang, carried out by plainclothes policemen.
The bodies of Espinosa and of his two friends were riddled with bullets. His mother, Maria Isabelita Espinosa, found his lifeless body in a doorway.
Helpless and destitute, she begged the authorities not to take her son’s body to the nearby funeral parlor because she couldn’t pay for the services with her meager income as a vendor of sweet potato leaves.
Espinosa quit school as a sixth grader to support their family — a child who carried the weight of the world on his shoulders.
“Even as a child, he worked tirelessly to help his family. He hauled gravel and sand and sold sweet potato leaves to provide for his brother’s education and help me every day,” Maria Isabelita said.
Espinosa was not on the barangay’s drug watchlist. He never touched illegal substances, much less peddled them, his mother swore. She filed a case against the suspects, but this was dismissed following the sudden death of a witness.
With Rodrigo Duterte’s handover to the International Criminal Court to face charges for crimes against humanity, Maria Isabelita is hopeful that they will find the elusive justice they have been fighting for for more than seven years.
Reinnard Balonzo
Angelito Soriano, 15
He was a high school student and a fan of Rodrigo Duterte.
Bagong Silang, Caloocan City – December 28, 2016
Angelito Soriano was killed along with his friend, Sonny Espinosa, when gunmen fired on a house they sought refuge in Bagong Silang, Caloocan City, on December 28, 2016. He was 15, a second-year high school student and a fan of Rodrigo Duterte.
His mother, Emily, went to the crime scene and found Angelito’s lifeless body with multiple gunshots.
Police claimed that the incident was an offshoot of a shootout with a suspect. Emily and other mothers of the victims claimed that when they confronted the investigator, they were told that the killings were part of a police operation.
During the months-long hearing, the witness was suddenly declared dead by the authorities, prompting Emily to drop the case and do her own investigation.
“My child’s life was taken, so we will do everything to give him justice. I promised that on his grave,” Emily said, adding her son was a law-abiding citizen who never figured in any kind of fight, and was not on the barangay drugs watchlist.
Angelito was a disciplined son who was quick to assist his mother, who eked out a living as a vendor.
“My child picked up trash and sold it to help me provide for his siblings – he was very disciplined, kind, and caring; he wasn’t a drug addict, but why did they kill my child?”
She never imagined that Duterte’s chilling Christmas threat against drug addicts in December 2016 would be carried out a few days later, targeting her own son.
Eight years on, the family’s grief remains raw and their pursuit of justice remains relentless. They cling to the hope that the International Criminal Court will finally hold those responsible for the killings of Angelito and countless others accountable.
Reinnard Balonzo
Michael Lee, 34
He was shot at an intersection he and wife often pass by.
Bagong Silang, Caloocan City – March 20, 2017
Driver Michael Lee was randomly gunned down by men riding in-tandem while he was waiting for his assigned jeepney on a road in Bagong Silang, Caloocan City, on the night of March 20, 2017.
The 34-year-old was shot at the intersection of Langit and Barugo roads, which he and wife would pass when they brought their three children to school.
An hour before the shooting, Jane went out to pick up the children at school, while Michael stayed behind on the road to wait for his jeepney. He never came home for dinner.
Now all that remained were memories of family rides in his jeepney and moments of simple joys.
“Tired from driving, he’d still help at home,” Jane recalled. “We were happy, unaware that that familiar intersection would become his grave.”
Grief was a luxury Jane couldn’t afford. Since nearby funeral parlors were full, her family waited for three days to hold Michael’s wake at his parents’ home.
“I had to set aside my sorrow,” she said. “We had no money, no food. I worked during his wake.”
Jane also decided to withhold information about her husband’s killing because of the stigma attached to Tokhang operations. She did not want people to assume he was a drug user; he was not on the barangay drugs watchlist. Still, she had to transfer her children to another school after they were bullied following Michael’s death.
The gunmen have not been arrested to this day. Jane never got around to filing a complaint because she had meager resources and feared for their safety. She takes on multiple jobs to put food on the table and send their children to school.
Reinnard Balonzo
Danilo Dacumos, 45
The police squad dragged him out of their home.
Bagong Silang, Caloocan City – August 3, 2017
Danilo Dacumos, 45, a construction worker, was entrapped by plainclothes policemen at their home in Bagong Silang, Caloocan City, on the night of August 3, 2017.
His family stood paralyzed as the police squad dragged him out of their home and repeatedly shot him, casually walking away.
“The sheer terror in my grandchildren’s screams tears me apart because we couldn’t do anything but watch the police officers shoot their own legs to make it look like my husband fought back, which is why they killed him,” Dacumos’ wife Purisima said.
She believed that the police officer who led the operation was the same officer who had earlier arrested her husband for illegal gambling.
“They took him for gambling, then they took his life four months after,” she said.
Fearful for her life, Purisima went into hiding during her husband’s wake. Her family did not file a complaint out of fear for retaliation from the operatives.
To this day, the suspects are still at large. Purisima’s family prays that through the International Criminal Court, they would get justice for his killing and the horrors that they had gone through for almost eight years.
Reinnard Balonzo
Bernard Nonay, 33
He gave a ride to a friend under police surveillance.
Bagong Silang, Caloocan City – June 20, 2018
Tricycle driver Bernard Nonay had just dropped off a passenger in Phase 3 in Bagong Silang, Caloocan City, on June 20, 2018, when he was shot dead by men riding in-tandem. He was 33.
His elderly mother, Estrella, insisted that he was not a drug user. She believed he was targeted because he’d once given a ride to a friend under police surveillance.
“They just suspected him,” she tearfully said, “and they killed him.”
Bernard was the sole breadwinner in the family. Frail and often ill, he would work for hours to put food on the table and buy medicine whenever one of them got sick.
“From the moment he learned to drive, he worked as a tricycle driver just to help our family, which is why he never finished his studies. Even when his body was barely able to handle the long hours of driving, he never stopped, just so he could bring something home for us and his siblings,” Estrella recalled.
“Whenever his father said he was in pain or we were out of rice, he’d immediately go out driving, just to bring us medicine or food,” she added. “He was a very kind and selfless son.”
With his killing, their lifeline was cut off – the same reason why they didn’t file a case because of the costs that this entailed.
Despite her age, Estrella still joins protests to call for justice for her son. She prays that she will live to see the day when the International Criminal Court convicts Rodrigo Duterte for the crime against humanity of murder, and brings justice to the thousands killed by the war on drugs.
Reinnard Balonzo