Families of Duterte’s drug war victims grieve, seek justice in Philippines

Families of victims of the deadly police campaign call on the International Criminal Court to probe other officials alongside Duterte.

Manila, Philippines – It has been almost eight years since brothers Crisanto and Juan Carlos disappeared one morning in Quezon City, a sprawling northern district of Metro Manila.

Within a day, their lifeless bodies were discovered riddled with bullets. But the pain of their brutal killing has continued to haunt their mother, Llore Pasco, over all these years.

On that morning in May 2017, Crisanto, a 34-year-old father of four, had left home early to pick up a licence to work as a private security guard. Not long after, Juan Carlos, 31, a part-time utility bill collector, would follow his brother out of their home.

They would never come back.

The day after their disappearance, their mother told Al Jazeera how she and other relatives were shocked to learn from a television news report that her two sons had been killed, accused by police of robbery. It took a full week and a hefty $1,500 fee for Pasco to recover their bodies from the morgue.

Their funerals were followed by years of agony as Pasco lived without hope for justice ever being done.

So on hearing the news this week of the arrest of the country’s former President Rodrigo Duterte over his brutal war on drugs, she was overcome with emotion.

“I felt so nervous and scared, but also excited,” said Pasco, a part-time food vendor and massage therapist.

“My eyes were filled with tears. At long last, after so many years of waiting, it’s happening. This is it,” she told Al Jazeera.

The International Criminal Court (ICC), which issued the arrest warrant for Duterte, was her one last hope for justice, said Pasco, a leading member of Rise Up