With Duterte at ICC, tokhang survivor seeks justice from SC

As former president Rodrigo Duterte awaits trial at the International Criminal Court over the bloody war on drugs, a lone survivor of a tokhang-style operation in 2016 that saw four people dead is still seeking justice from the Supreme Court.

- Jean Mangaluz/ Philstar.com

Efren Morillo, a fruit vendor from Payatas, was detained along with four of his friends by policemen in plain clothing. The police would later allegedly tie them up and shoot them, executioner-style.

Morillo survived by playing dead.

He would press charges against the police officers at the Ombudsman, but the body would dismiss his case in 2023. A division of the Supreme Court (SC) affirmed this decision earlier in November.

Now, Morillo and his counsel—ICC-accredited lawyers Joel Butuyan and Gilbert Andres—are hoping to elevate the matter to the SC en banc, questioning why the mastermind behind the drug war is behind bars abroad but those who perpetrated it at home have yet to be held accountable.