Senatorial bet Jayvee Hinlo leads pro-Duterte rally in Bacolod 

The protest, led by senatorial candidate Jesus “Jayvee” Hinlo Jr., deputy secretary general for the Visayas of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP), drew an estimated 2,500 people to a candlelight and prayer rally at the Bacolod City Government Center, according to city police director Colonel Joeresty Coronica.

A motorcade of over 100 motorcycles and vehicles wound through the city, with participants blaring their horns. Coronica described the demonstration as “orderly and peaceful” but said police remain on alert for any further protests.

“The crowd is unbelievable. It shows that many in Bacolod still love Tatay Digong,” said Hinlo, who served as undersecretary at the Department of the Interior and Local Government, board member of the Land Bank of the Philippines, and commissioner of the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission during Duterte’s presidency. His candidacy received support from Duterte.

Protesters expressed their solidarity with Duterte, who was arrested upon his return from Hong Kong on Tuesday, March 11. The former leader faces trial at the ICC over alleged crimes against humanity related to his bloody war on drugs.

Duterte’s war on drugs, launched after he took office in 2016, led to thousands of deaths in police operations and vigilante-style killings. Human rights groups estimate that more than 30,000 people, mostly from poor communities, were killed. The campaign drew international condemnation, with the ICC opening an investigation into alleged extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions, and other abuses. 

Pastor David Bob Carillo of the Redeemer’s Missionary Baptist Church in Barangay Sum-ag said joining the rally was “the best thing I can do to show opposition to the present administration.” He then prayed for Duterte.

“Walang iwanan!” said Bacolod-based lawyer John Deles. He rejected Duterte’s arrest, asserting that the former president was denied due process.

But many also do not support Duterte in Bacolod and Negros Occidental. Former Negros Occidental governor Rafael Coscolluela, for instance, took to social media: “Above all the noise resulting from his arrest, please remember one thing – he is being accorded due process. Exactly what ‘tokhang’ victims were deprived of.”

The Human Rights Advocates Negros (HRAN) said Duterte’s arrest marks a step toward justice for Rafael Atotubo, a 62-year-old trial lawyer who was gunned down in front of his house at the corner of AB Pareño and Galo streets in Bacolod on August 23, 2018.

Atotubo, a member of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), was known for defending suspects in Bacolod and other parts of Negros Occidental facing drug-related charges.

His murder remains unsolved, but rights groups suspect it was part of the extrajudicial killings  linked to Duterte’s war on drugs.

HRAN has also attributed the murders of human rights lawyer Benjamin Ramos in Kabankalan City in 2018, Escalante Councilor and rights advocate Bernardino “Toto” Patigas in 2019, and Negros Island Health Integrated Program officer Zara Alvarez in Bacolod in 2020 to the wave of EJKs under Duterte’s administration.

Like Atotubo’s case, the killings of Ramos, Patigas, and Alvarez remain unsolved.

The pocket rallies in Mindanao and Visayas were mostly led by politicians aspiring for different positions. In Cebu, local candidates allied with the Dutertes, staged similar pocket rallies to decry the former president’s arrest.

On Tuesday, Cebu gubernatorial aspirant Pam Baricuatro led a prayer rally for Duterte at the Plaza Independencia.

In Lapu-Lapu City, mayoral aspirant Paz Radaza and congressional aspirant Ryan Yuson led a Mass for Duterte, followed by a motorcade in Cordova town, on Wednesday. – with reports from John Sitchon/Rappler.com