Law of Duterte Land podcast

Law of Duterte Land: Justice Carpio on Duterte’s damage to rule of law

Lian Buan
Law of Duterte Land: Justice Carpio on Duterte’s damage to rule of law
'The drug war was clearly unconstitutional,' says retired justice Antonio Carpio, who was in charge of the Supreme Court petitions against TokHang before he retired

Bookmark this page for the stream, which begins at 7 pm on Monday, June 13

MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs was unconstitutional, said retired supreme court senior justice Antonio Carpio, adding it’s the one policy of the last six years “that should be redressed.”

“We should not stop redressing this injustice, we have to settle this, we have to put an end to this impunity so it will never happen again. Over 25,000 Filipinos are just killed like flies,” said Carpio over the Law of Duterte Land Podcast.

“For me, the drug war was clearly unconstitutional,” said Carpio.

That is a strong statement coming from the justice who was member-in-charge of the petitions in the Supreme Court seeking to declare the drug war unconstitutional. Since Carpio’s retirement in 2019, the petitions have been passed on to two more justices.

It’s still unresolved after five years in litigation.

Rappler’s justice reporter Lian Buan talks to Carpio as we assess Duterte’s impact, or damage, to the rule of law.

In six years, novel legal actions were done that undermined the rule of law, the anti-terror law was passed, and the historic Hague win on the West Philippine Sea was shelved.

For Carpio, “the worst act that he did against the law was Oplan TokHang.”

Watch this episode with Justice Carpio streaming on Rappler 7pm Monday, June 13. – Rappler.com

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Lian Buan

Lian Buan is a senior investigative reporter, and minder of Rappler's justice, human rights and crime cluster.