Cong. Pulong Duterte slammed Senate giving honor to so-called 'heroes of EJK'

DAVAO CITY — Davao City Rep. Paolo “Pulong” Duterte criticized the Senate for honoring what he described as the so-called “heroes” of extra-judicial killings (EJKs) linked to the war on drugs during the Duterte administration.

“What we are witnessing inside the halls of the Senate today is not remembrance—it is selective mourning and convenient amnesia,” Duterte said in a statement Wednesday.

The lawmaker lamented that the Senate chose to highlight what he called the “heroes” of the EJK narrative while failing to remember the SAF 44.

“They choose to put on display the so-called ‘heroes’ of the EJK narrative, yet they refuse to even remember the SAF 44—men who followed orders, entered hostile territory, and never came home.

“No exhibit. No candles. No speeches. Just silence,” Duterte said.

He added that lawmakers “grieve loudly for criminals” but remain silent on what he described as the real victims of illegal drugs.

“They grieve loudly for criminals, yet remain eerily quiet about the real victims of drugs—the children raped and killed by addicts, the families destroyed by dependency, and the communities terrorized by pushers who operated openly while officials looked the other way,” he said.

Duterte also questioned the lack of recognition for law enforcers and soldiers.

“Paano na ang mga pulis na araw-araw lumalaban sa kriminalidad? Paano na ang mga sundalong nakipaglaban at nagbuwis ng buhay laban sa mga terorista at NPA para ipagtanggol ang bayan? Sila ba ay hindi karapat-dapat alalahanin? Hindi ba sila bahagi ng kasaysayan? Hindi ba sila biktima rin?” he asked.

The Davao solon further called on the Senate to show outrage for innocent victims and compassion for parents who buried their children because drugs, he said, “got there first.”

According to Duterte, the selective empathy exposes the truth. “This is not about human rights—this is about politics. This is not about justice—this is about rewriting history,” he said.

He added that the drug war did not begin in a vacuum but was born from decades of neglect, corruption, and tolerance.

“You cannot condemn the consequences while ignoring the cause. You cannot honor one narrative while erasing another.

“And you cannot claim the moral high ground while standing on the graves of forgotten heroes and ignored victims,” Duterte said.

Duterte concluded that Filipinos deserve truth, balance, and honesty—not what he described as theatrical displays meant to sanitize failure and demonize resolve.

In the end, he said they remember the SAF 44, fallen police officers and soldiers, and innocent victims of drugs, and will not allow history to be dictated by those who were silent when it mattered most.