Former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is set to attend the Senate probe on his drug war.FILE PHOTO FROM BONG GO FACEBOOK PAGE

MANILA, Philippines — “I did what I had to do.”

This was what former President Rodrigo Duterte had to say when asked on Monday what he could tell the public about his administration’s brutal anti-drug campaign.

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In an ambush interview at the Senate, Duterte said he had to implement the drug war “to protect the people” and his country.

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“I am here to make an accounting of what I did as President,” he told reporters.

Asked if he has any regrets about leading such a controversial anti-drug campaign, the former president simply said: “[The] drug war, it is for the Filipino to make a judgment.”

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READ: The Duterte Administration

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Duterte’s attendance before the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee marks his first appearance in a congressional inquiry into his administration’s bloody drug war dubbed as Oplan Tokhang.

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The anti-drug campaign made the former president a central figure in the International Criminal Court’s investigation into crimes against humanity complaints filed by families of drug war victims.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency listed 6,252 dead in anti-drug police operations from July 1, 2016, to May 31, 2022.

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READ: Diokno: Duterte’s OP listed 20,322 drug-war deaths as accomplishments

However, a 2017 year-end report attributed to the Office of the President listed more than 20,000 dead in the first 17 months of the Duterte administration.

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