DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 17 March) – Clarita Alia promised “forever” to her sons Richard, Christopher, Bobby and Fernando who were all minors when they were killed allegedly by the Davao Death Squad (DDS) in 2001, 2002 and 2007.
“Forever gyud kong maningkamot nga ipaglaban ang inyong katungod” (I will forever fight for your rights), she recalled having told Richard before he was slain in July 2001.
On Thursday, March 13, the 71-year old Clarita, woke up to a different morning in her shanty in Bankerohan Public Market, where she makes a living pushing cart. She felt light, the weight on her shoulders lifted. She had cried at midnight when a friend informed her that former President Rodrigo Duterte, the mayor when her sons were killed, is now out of the country, in a detention center in The Hague, the Netherlands.
Justice – even if partial – has been achieved, she said. “Napreso man siya. Bisag akong mga anak wala na, natagaan din gyud silag (hustisya)” (Even if my sons are gone, they have been given justice).
Clarita Alia, mother of four sons who were killed allegedly by the Davao Death Squad in 2001, 2002 and 2007, lights a candle at the gravesite of her sons on Friday afternoon, 14 March 2025. MindaNews photo by MANMAN DEJETO
That same morning, Clarita went to visit her sons in their final resting place in the Wireless Public Cemetery, several meters away from the mausoleum housing the remains of Duterte’s parents. Going to where her sons’ remains are – their tombs on top of the other — is like going through a maze and one has to step on the graves of others.
The friend who notified her Duterte was already in The Hague promised to send her flowers and candles the next day but even as she had none that morning, she wanted to talk to her sons in the cemetery, to share with them the news.
“Nisulti man ko didto sa akong mga anak nga salamat nga ang akong gisulti nga magtuloy-tuloy kog pangayog hustisya para sa inyoha niabot na gyud” (I told my sons, I am grateful that what I said about continuously seeking justice for you, is finally here), she told MindaNews on Thursday afternoon.
Clarita Alia lost four sons to summary killings in Davao City between 2001 and 2007. Richard in July 2001. Three months later, iChristopher. In 2002, Bobby. She sent her youngest, Fernando, away to make him live but he missed his mother and came home three years later. He was killed in 2007. MindaNews photo by MANMAN DEJETO
She said she will continue to fight for justice for her sons because the suspected perpetrators – from within the ranks of the police — have yet to be arrested.
“Dapat dakpon pa gyud na sila uy … kay dili lang man si Digong (Duterte) gihapon kay kasabwat man sila.. Di man na kaya kung si Digong lang. Siya ra man naghatag sa plano anang tanan” (They should be arrested .. because it was not just Digong. They were accomplices… Digong cannot do that alone. He just laid the plan),” she said.
Sons’ deaths not included in ICC case
Clarita is aware that her sons’ deaths are not included in the “crime against humanity of murder” filed against Duterte before the International Criminal Court (ICC) as it covers only the period of killings from November 1, 2011 to March 16, 2019 when the Philippines was still a State Party to the Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding treaty.
But Clarita asserts she has a stake in the ICC proceedings. “Apil man gihapon ko kay dili man na maingon ana kung wala ko nagsigeg yawyaw sa una. Kay sa una, isa ra gud ko, unya dayon nadaghan di, ba?” (I am still part of this because it would not have been like this if I did not speak up before. Before, I was the only one, and then we became many, right?”)
A mother of seven (the eldest from a previous relationship), Clarita holds the record of having lost the most number of children – four teenage sons – among the 1,424 victims of summary killings between 1998 and 2015 in this city which rebranded itself from “killing fields” to “Life is Here” in September 2011 under then mayor Sara Duterte.
That number – 1,424 — represents only those documented by the Coalition Against Summary Execution (CASE). It does not include undocumented cases during that period and does not account for the number of killings from 1988 when Duterte was first elected as Mayor, and according to self-confessed DDS members — retired policeman Arturo Lascanas and hitman Edgar Matobato — the year that marked the birth of what would later be known as DDS. There is no documentation by a non-government group, of the 1988-1998 killings.
Former President Rodrigo Duterte, long-time mayor of Davao City, makes his first appearance before the International Criminal Court via video link from his detention center in The Hague, the Netherlands, on Friday, 14 March 2025. Photo courtesy of the INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
Duterte was President from June 30, 2016 to June 30, 2022. He served seven terms as mayor of Davao City (1988 to 1998; 2001 to 2010; 2013 to 2016), was OIC Vice Mayor from 1986 to 1987; Representative of the first district of Davao City from 1998 to 2001 and Vice Mayor from 2010 to 2013.
Duterte was Vice Mayor of Davao City when the Philippines became a signatory to the Rome Statute in 2011. His daughter, Sara, now Vice President of the Philippines, was mayor from 2010 to 2013.
During his Presidency, the Philippine National Police recorded 6,600 drug suspects killed in the “war on drugs” operations from July 1, 2016 to May 31, 2019, the first half of Duterte’s six-year term. Most of them were reportedly armed and “nanlaban” (fought back), a claim debunked by witnesses and by forensic investigations. But human rights groups say the number did not include victims of vigilante-style killings, and cite figures ranging from 12,000 to 30,000 deaths.
Lone face and voice
In her fight to attain justice for her sons, Clarita, for over two decades now, has been the lone face and voice of hundreds of residents here who lost their loved ones to extrajudicial killings.
In the 2009 probe of the Commission on Human Rights, then chaired by Leila de Lima, Clarita testified in public while other mothers and relatives of other victims opted for closed door sessions.
She also appeared on the cover of the 2009 report of the Human Rights Watch, titled “You Can Die Anytime: Death Squad Killings in Mindanao,” a report released days after the CHR probe.
Human Rights Watch report with Clarita Alia on the cover (holding a megaphone and her grandchild). The HRW report was released April 2009, days after the probe of the Commission on Human Rights under then chair Leila de Lima.
Clarita’s sons were branded by the police as gang members and were suspected of having committed petty crimes. One was accused of killing somebody when, according to Clarita, it was another person who committed that crime. She swears her sons were innocent but adds that if at all they did commit crimes, they should not have been killed. Due process should have been given them, she said.
Richard, born on November 23, 1982, was killed on July 17, 2001. It was the 17th day of Duterte’s return as mayor after his three terms from 1988 to 1998 (he served as Representative of the first district from 1998 to 2001). Within two weeks of his return, counting the dead had become part of the daily reportage of the local media.
Three months after Richard’s death, the grieving mother lost yet another son, Christopher. Born on October 24, 1984, Topher was four days shy of 17 when he was killed on October 20, 2001.
Bobby, born on November 8, 1987, was going to celebrate his 15th birthday in five days. He was killed on November 3, 2002.
Fearing her youngest son, Fernando, would suffer the fate of his elder brothers, Clarita sent the 12-year old boy away “so he would live.”
Fernan lived outside Davao City, for at least three years. But the young boy missed his mother and returned home. A few months later, Fernan, born on November 17, 1991 was killed on April 13, 2007. He was 15.
All four sons succumbed to stab wounds.
“Ma’am Rowena”
Clarita knew from the moment she dared speak up that she could be the next target of summary killing but she was unfazed. She reasoned out that everyone would know who killed her. She has kept a diary on her children’s deaths and listed there the suspected perpetrators she has named in previous interviews. Copies of that diary have been reproduced and given to friends in case something happens to her.
She says only one police officer helped her. “Isa lang ka pulis nakatabang nako sa una,” (Only one police officer has helped me before), she said. She could not recall her full name. She only remembers “Ma’am Rowena” with the surname that sounds like “Bilila” who helped her find in what police station her son Bobby, was brought to.
Clarita Alia points to the grave of her son Bobby, who was killed in 2022, five days before he would have turned 15. His grave is on top of Christopher’s whose grave is on top of Richard’s. Fernando’s is on the other side with other relatives. MindaNews photo taken on November 11, 2024 by GREGORIO C. BUENO
“Ma’am Rowena,” then with the Davao City Police Office’s Women’s and Children’s Desk, turned out to be Royina Garma who was once married to another police officer, Roland Vilela. Now a retired police colonel and former head of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), Garma testified in October last year at the House Quad Committee investigating extrajudicial killings, about the “Davao Death Squad” and the cash rewards system for the killing of crime suspects when she was a police officer in the city.
Garma and her daughter were flagged upon arrival in San Francisco, United States, on November 7 last year, allegedly due to cancelled visa.
ABS-CBN reported on March 13 that the Department of Justice has held a preliminary investigation into the murder of PCSO board secretary Wesley Barayuga, with Garma as among the respondents to the murder and frustrated murder complaints.
ABS-CBN asked Garma’s lawyer, Emerito Quilang, about her whereabouts. Quilang said he cannot ascertain if his client is seeking asylum in the United States. “If the person is there, there’s no other thing she will do except to ask for asylum, I presume,” Quilang said.
Long wait for justice
For Clarita, it has been a very long wait for justice. Twenty-four years by July 17, the day the first of her four sons was killed.
A number of residents who lost their loved ones before 2001 have waited for justice longer than Clarita. Nida (not her real name), lost a loved one to extrajudicial killing in the early 1990s when the “Davao Death Squad” or “DDS” was already operating but not yet carrying that name.
Nida’s loved one was last seen in the company of a policeman. Worse, they never recovered the entire body, just parts of it that washed ashore.
Nida told MindaNews she prays the case in the ICC prospers, even if like Clarita’s sons, it also does not include her loved one’s case. What is important is justice for the victims, she said.
“What is justice for you,” MindaNews asked Clarita in a previous interview.
Clarita Alia on justice for her four sons who were killed allegedly by the Davao Death Squad between 2001 and 2007: “I do not want another mother to cry or another child to die.” MindaNews photo by CAROLYN O. ARGUILLAS
Justice she said, is not just for herself. “Sa tanan gyud na, dili kay sa akoa lang kay mag unsa pa man sa ako-a nga patay na man akong mga bata? Sa lain na sad. Dili ko gusto nga naa pay inahan maghilak, naay mga anak mamatay.” (For everyone, not just for me because my children are already dead. This is for the others. I do not want another mother to cry or another child to die), she said.
But she also pointed to the “dunot nga sistema” (rotten system) that kills children. “Di ba dunot nga sistema na? Nagabiktima mga bata. Bisan gamay lag sala patyon. Ngano sa Senado, daghang kawat didto, kawat sa gobyerno, nganong wala man mamatay. Mubalik pa ganig dagan hinuan di ba?” (Isn’t it a rotten system where children are victimized? They’re killed even if they committed a minor offense. In the Senate, in government, there’s so much stealing, why aren’t the offenders killed? They even run for another term, right?), Clarita said. (Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)
