While Vice President Sara Duterte was spreading disinformation about the alleged miserable situation of her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, at his detention quarters in Scheveningen, The Hague, families of eight of the victims of the Duterte’s war on drugs were recalling the brutality and injustice they suffered during the inurnment Oct. 4 at the Dambana ng Paghilom at La Loma Catholic Cemetery in Caloocan city.
Inurnment is the act of placing the urn containing the ashes in a designated space.
The eight victims of extrajudicial killings during Duterte’s were Adrian Romero, 18; Darwin Dacillo, 24; Regie Boy Jaranilla, 24; Ronnel Obenita, 30; Vicente Rufino, 24; Alex Bigonte, Jr., 47; Marlon Ballonico, 50; and Artemio Lusadio, 61.
Led by Fr. Allan Bondoc, SVD with Paghilom founder Fr. Flavie Villanueva, the Oct 4 inurnment brought to a total of 111 EJK victims interred at the Paghilom Shrine. The solemn ceremony also marked the closing program of the month-long ‘Justice for All’ campaign of civil society groups led by Francis ‘Kiko’ Aquino Dee, grandson of the late president Corazon C. Aquino.
Diorenda Ballonico, sister of Marlon, remembers her brother as a happy person. Stubborn but a good person, she said. He was not charged in court, he was just killed: “Walang paglilitis, walang pagkakataon na magpaliwanag, walang paggalang sa kanyang pagkatao.”
Nimfa, a sister of Alex, misses him so much because he was taking care of one of their siblings who has a disability. He was killed in 2020 by unidentified men who barged into his house and shot him several times.
Speaking for the group, Ballonico said they will not stop until they get justice for their killed relatives: “Hindi kami titigil sa panawagan ng katotohanan. Hindi kami titigil sa paghahanap ng katarungan hindi lang para sa kapatid ko kundi para sa lahat ng biktima ng ganitong karahasan.”
F. Flavie Villanueva, one of this year’s recipient of the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award, told the families that Sara Duterte’s claims of her father’s alleged difficulties in detention such as having collapsed, to justify his request for an “interim release” are not true, quoting former senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who is one of those who filed a complaint against Duterte at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands.
Duterte, who was arrested and brought to the ICC on March 11, is charged with crimes against humanity of murder arising from his war on drugs during his presidency and his mayorship in Davao City.
Villanueva said spreading lies is a form of the dreaded tokhang (Tokhang is the term used when members of Durterte’s death squad knock on the house of their target person and shoot.) “Ang kasinungalingan ay isang uri ng tokhang.”
“Tinokhang na nila ang buhay. Tinokhang na rin ang salapi. Ang katotohan, gusto pa rin nila tukhangin,” Fr. Flavie said appealing to the families who have undergone healing to stand up and together help in the healing of the country amidst the widespread corruption scandal:” Ang pakiusap ko. Tayo na nakaranas ng paghilum, tumulong tayo, tumindig tayo,magsama-sama tayo. Hilumin natin ang ating bayan.”
Photos and videos by Bullit Marquez for VERA Files
