MANILA, Philippines – It has been almost eight years since the Sakurt and Juan Carlos brothers disappeared one morning in Quezon, a vast northern part of the Manila metropolitan area.
Within a day it was discovered that their invigorating bodies were plagued by bullets. However, the pain of their brutal murder has continued to plague their mother, Llore Pasco, for the past few years.
That morning in May 2017, Crisanto, a 34-year-old father of four, left the house early to pick up a license to work as a private security guard. Soon, part-time utility bill collector Juan Carlos, 31, kicked his younger brother out of his home.
They will never come back.
The day after their loss, their mother told Al Jazeera how she and other relatives were shocked to learn from a TV news report that her two sons had been murdered and that they had been accused of robbery. It cost Pasco a week and a huge $1,500 fee for him to retrieve his body from the morgue.
Their funeral was followed by years of pain as Pasco lived without hope for justice to occur.
So, this week she was overcome with feelings when she heard the news that former President Rodrigo Duterte had been arrested over a brutal war on drugs.
“I was just so nervous and scared, but I was excited,” said Pasco, a food vendor and massage therapist at Passtime.
“My eyes were filled with tears. Finally, after many years of waiting, it’s been happening. She told Al Jazeera.
The International Criminal Court (ICC), which issued Duterte’s arrest warrant, said it was her last hope for justice, and Pasco, a leading member of Rise Up for Life and Rights, was a group of mothers and wives killed in the country’s war on drugs.
Pasco said there was “lol hope” to find justice for killing his sons in the Philippines.
On Tuesday, the International Police Agency (INTERPOL) served as an ICC warrant against Duterte at Manila Airport, serving on charges of “crimes against humanity” related to the murder of thousands of suspected drug users and dealers during their time of power.
Later that day, the Philippine government allowed Duterte to flee to an international court based in The Hague.
Police records show that over 7,000 people were killed in an official gas operation ordered by Duterte while in office from 2016 to 2022.
Human rights groups say the number of actual killings could approach 30,000. Among them, some of them were later found to be infiltrating police officers, including those killed by gunmen.
Duterte arrived in the Netherlands Wednesday afternoon, where he was officially handed over to the jurisdiction of the ICC.
Amid criticism and protests from Duterte supporters, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the shocking arrest was in line with his country’s “commitment to Interpol.”
Christine Pascual was working at a hair salon when she heard the news about Duterte’s arrest.
“My clients were asking me why I was crying while I was having her hair,” Pascual told Al Jazeera, adding that memories of her late son, 17-year-old Joshua Pascual Laxamana, had rushed back at the moment.
“From the time Joshua was killed, and when he began to demand justice for his death, I have experienced so much pain and pain,” she said.
Professional online gamer Laxamana was on her way back from a tournament in the Northern Philippines when he was shot and killed by police.
Records showed he fired a shot at the officer and tried to escape on a motorcycle. However, Laksamana didn’t know how to drive a motorcycle, and his family has always claimed that he never used drugs or dealt with weapons, as police argued.
“For years, we have been extremely disappointed that nothing has happened with my son’s case or any other legal murder cases,” Pascual said.
“So I was very surprised to hear the news about Duterte’s arrest and I’m very pleased that he has to face us in court,” she said, admitting that the two police officers involved in the death of her son would probably not be charged.
“My family is never the same with Joshua gone,” she added.
“Unbearable pain”
Luzbiminda Ciapo, the mother of another victim of the drug war, said she felt a sense of security after learning that Duterte had been taken to the Hague.
“I already feel like I’ve achieved a bit of justice after seeing Duterte arrested and taken to prison in The Hague,” Siapo told Al Jazeera.
“For everything he did, and for all the death he caused, what will I reap in return?”
Duterte should also be grateful that he was only arrested and given the rightful proceedings at the ICC – denied by her murdered son, Siapo said.
Her son, Reimat Siapo, was 19 years old when he was accused and shot twice in the head by several masked gunmen. His body was left in a village near Manila Bay.
News reports from the time revealed that Raymart had a conflict with his neighbor, resulting in false accusations against authorities that the teenager was involved in the sale of marijuana.
The day after the terrible accusations were made, an unknown suspect came looking for Raymart, driven him onto a motorcycle, and took him to an adjacent neighbourhood, where he was ordered to descend and run for his life.
Born with deformed legs, the teenager didn’t go far when the gunman died and began shooting him.
“I feel the unbearable pain of losing a child in the drug war,” Siapo told Al Jazeera.
Children as “secondary damage”
The families of other people killed in the drug war gathered on Wednesday during a press conference hosted by Raise-Up Group and the National Federation of Lawyers.
At the event, Emily Soriano, mother of Angelito, the murdered 15-year-old son, said while welcoming Duterte’s arrest, she hoped others were charged and imprisoned, including those who issued direct orders to carry out the police operations that led to the death of their children.
Soriano picked out Sen. Ronald Della Rosa, who once served as police enforcement officer during Duterte’s drug war.
Della Rosa has repeatedly defended the legality of Duterte’s drug war. He once famously knew that children killed in crossfire during police operations were “secondary damage,” adding that “sh** will happen.”
Soriano said Della Rosa and the other police officers were as guilty as Duterte.
“It’s good for Duterte that he is given the rightful procedure. He still enjoys his bed,” she said between her tears.
“What about the murdered son? My son’s body has been corrupted in the cemetery for over eight years.”
Soriano claims that her son was not a drug user, but was in a house that happened to be targeted by authorities, which led to his murder.
Six other people died during the operation, including two other teenagers and a pregnant woman.
“It was a very painful experience to lose a son who wasn’t really a drug addict. There were a lot of people who jumped on the conclusion and they became drug addicts. But they don’t know the truth,” Soriano said.
Duterte’s gas policy was also a war against the poor, she added.
In The Hague late Wednesday, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan welcomed Duterte’s arrest, noting that it “means a lot for the victims,” proving that “international law is not as weak as you might think.”
“If we come together and build a partnership, the rule of law wins and we can execute the warrant,” Khan said.
Khan also said his office has been investigating the situation in the Philippines for several years, adding that allegations of crimes against humanity also cover those cases before Duterte was elected president in 2016 and he was still mayor of Davao city in the south.
Khan also emphasized that despite his arrest, “Mr. Duterte appears to be innocent.”
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