It was still dark when Rowena Tiamson left the house, the sky a blanket of charcoal above Dagupan. The air was quiet, the kind of silence that feels too still, as if the world itself was bracing for something terrible. She slipped out gently, not wanting to wake her mother, who was curled beside her on their worn sleeping mat. Before she left, she did what she always did—kissed her mother lightly on the forehead and whispered, “Uuwi ako agad, Ma.”
She meant it. She always meant it.
Rowena was twenty-two, with soft eyes, a sharp mind, and a voice that moved people. She sang in church. She sang in cafés. She sang anywhere that would hand her a microphone and a few coins. Her classmates called her the girl with music in her soul. But behind the melody was a quiet burden—poverty, struggle, the weight of being the youngest of six in a home held together more by love than by walls.
She studied Mass Communication by day and worked by night. Her dream wasn’t fame, or riches. It was a house. A simple one. With real floors. A bed for her mother. A roof that didn’t leak during the monsoon rains. “Kapag naka-graduate ako, Ma,” she once told her, “bibili tayo ng bahay. Promise ko ’yan.”
But that promise would never be fulfilled.
Hours later, before dawn, Rowena’s body was found discarded on a dirt roadside in Barangay Parian, Manaoag. She was face down, her wrists bound with packing tape. Her head was wrapped tight—so tight that she likely choked before the bullets came. A scrap of cardboard was laid over her back, scrawled in crude, angry strokes: “PUSHER.”
She had no chance to explain. No chance to say who she was. That she had a tattoo of a music note on her wrist because she loved singing. That her entire life revolved around God, family, and a future she was trying to build note by note, peso by peso. That she had no vices. That she still slept beside her mother every night. That she’d never even tried alcohol.
They didn’t ask. They didn’t care.
She was already guilty.
Her mother, Teresita, saw it first on the news. The body of a young woman, unnamed. A music note tattoo. The moment the image flickered onto the screen, the air was sucked out of the room. Teresita screamed so hard the neighbors came running. She didn’t need to see the face. She knew her daughter’s hands. She knew the shape of her shoulders. She knew—because a mother knows.
They buried Rowena in the only white dress she had—the one she wore during a school performance. Her choir mates sang at her wake, though their voices broke between sobs. And in the corner of the room, her mother sat still, her eyes hollow, her hand gently stroking Rowena’s hair.
At night, the house is quieter now. Not the kind of peaceful quiet—but the kind that aches. The kind that echoes.
Teresita no longer hears her daughter humming while doing chores. No more lullabies before bed. No more rehearsals in the kitchen. But sometimes—on the nights when sleep won’t come, and the roof creaks under the weight of memory—she swears she hears it.
That voice.
Faint. Tender. Drifting from somewhere she cannot reach. Singing a song she once heard Rowena practice for Sunday Mass.
“Lead me, Lord… lead me by the hand…”
She cries, not because it hurts—though it always hurts—but because it is beautiful. Because it is still hers. Because it survived.
Rowena’s voice lives on.
Not in recordings. Not on stages. But in the silence after grief. In the ache of a promise that tried so hard to be kept.
And though she never built her mother a house, she left behind a song—unfinished, but unforgettable. A melody that refuses to die.
And somewhere, out there in the dark, that voice still sings.
Juan Luna Blog
It was still dark when Rowena Tiamson left the house, the sky a blanket of charcoal above Dagupan. The air was quiet, the kind of silence that feels too still, as if the world itself was bracing for…
‘I don’t care if he dies there (ICC). If he dies there, he dies, no problem. It would be better if he dies there so he could feel what his victims felt,’ Clarita Alia, who lost four sons to Duterte’s kill orders, says.
Clarita Alia, who lost four of her teenage children to Rodrigo Duterte’s kill orders, knows no fear, only grief.
She forgot how to be afraid when she was protecting her sons from false crime accusations, just as nothing else could scare her after assailants killed them. When Clarita decided to stand up against Duterte in his own bailiwick, fear was like a painful memory locked away in a closet.
“Fear? I have none of that. I only have strength to fight,” said the feisty 71-year-old woman.
Clarita is only one among a handful of Davaoeños who speak against Duterte. She may be a Davaoeña, but she’s determined to live her truth and condemn the Duterte dynasty.
She cried when she learned that Duterte was arrested on the strength of an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant on March 11. It did not come as a surprise to her because she always knew Duterte would be punished. She asked God for it — she prayed to the heavens for Duterte and his allies to be locked up for their sins against those who were killed.
Not minding what her neighbors said, Clarita rejoiced because she finally attained justice.
“[When] I visited the cemetery…I told my sons: ‘Digong has been arrested and I am happy but you’re no longer here. But I just want to show you that I fought for you, I didn’t stop. Son, this isn’t just for you but for the other victims,’” she recounted to Rappler.
As she has been doing in the last decade or so, Clarita has continued speaking up, telling people about her slain sons’ stories in light of Duterte’s ICC saga. People online started attacking her, saying she would make a good target because she was an alleged thief and a drug pusher, just like her slain sons. But she was unaffected.
Her neighbors also blamed her for Duterte’s fate, telling her that the former Davao City mayor was locked up because she has been talking about her sons’ fate for years. But Clarita was still unfazed.
“They (neighbors) would ask, ‘Does this lady have no empathy?’ and my reply was always, ‘Why? Did they have empathy for my kids? They were young. People are crazy…They told me I’m in it for clout. Huh? Clout? They should try killing four of their kids for that clout,” she said.
‘Mother’s grief is different’:
Clarita lives alone in her humble abode in Bankerohan after losing her four sons — Richard, Christopher, Bobby, and Fernando — to Duterte’s kill orders.
She has three other living children, but all of them are already living their own lives. To continue fighting for her sons, she prayed to God for strength and good health. This appears to have been granted so far because she has no health issues aside from having difficulty walking. She fends for herself and survives daily by pushing a cart.
“When I’m home and using my phone, I find it hard to stand up. So I really stand up to earn money. I walk fast for a 71-year-old, glory to God. I aged well. When I have a problem, I just cry. After that, it’s like all is well,” said Clarita.
Her family members, being homegrown Davaoeños, have mixed opinions about the Dutertes. Clarita said she never voted for any member of the Duterte dynasty, while one of her siblings is a staunch Sara supporter, so they got into a fight.
Her three surviving kids are concerned for Clarita. She speaks strongly against the Dutertes and are surrounded by the dynasty’s supporters, so her children are worried she might be endangering herself. They constantly remind Clarita to keep it low, but she insists on doing what’s right.
“They just tell me, ‘Be careful, they might target you,’ and I just tell them to bury me if that happens,” said Clarita.
“A mother’s grief is different. They [always] get shocked and ask, ‘Why are you still fighting?’ and I tell them that it will all come to be useful. God forbid that [when] I’m gone, [at least] I did what I can, not just for my sons but for every victim. That’s how people would know that I remained firm,” she added.
Losing four sons in less than a decade:
Clarita’s sons all failed to grow into adults — stabbed to death when they were teens by men believed to be members of the Davao Death Squad (DDS). All four were victims of Duterte’s violent drug war when he was mayor.
Richard, 18, was framed by local cops for robbery and rape, said Clarita. A report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on DDS killings said Richard was cited as an alleged member of the “Notoryus” gang and had been arrested previously for petty crimes, but Clarita said the cops only made up stories about her Richard.
When Richard was arrested without a complaint and had been held by the police for days, Clarita sought the help of the Office of the Ombudsman. She refused to surrender Richard. This angered the police, she said, and a cop told her to “watch out because [her] sons will be killed, one by one!”
“Lord Jesus. They made up so many things. Richard didn’t have any cases. My heart hurts. To be honest, I could cry. To be honest, I felt so bad for him and the things he said. He said, ‘Ma, God forbid, Ma,’ and that if he dies, he hopes I would fight for him. I will fight for them endlessly,” Clarita declared.
Richard was stabbed to death on July 17, 2001 — less than 30 days since Duterte became mayor again after serving a three-year term as a lawmaker. Clarita was unsure if the police even probed into Richard’s murder.
Only three months had passed and Clarita had to say goodbye again to another son, 17-year-old Christopher, who was also stabbed to death in October 2001. Christopher was slain in Bankerohan market.
As their family was preparing for All Soul’s Day in 2003, Clarita’s 14-year-old son Bobby was taken by the police for allegedly stealing a cellphone. Clarita looked for her son everywhere. All the stations she went to had no Bobby under their custody.
Clarita vividly remembers that a police officer named “Ma’am Rowena” — who turned out to be retired police colonel Royina Garma — helped her find Bobby. Garma had been assigned to several posts in the Davao City police under Duterte. Fast forward to 2024, Garma was instrumental in exposing how Duterte used his Davao Death Squad and implemented a drug war campaign nationwide.
With Garma’s help, Clarita was reunited with her son. Bobby said he was tortured by the police and was made to sign a document. On the night of November 3, 2003, Clarita fell asleep and was wakened only by the loud shouts of her neighbors. Bobby suffered the same fate as his brothers — he was stabbed in the back with a butcher’s knife in Bankerohan market.
“That was the third time it happened to me, until now I’m unable to forget it…It was when Bobby died that I said to myself that I’ll work hard. I went to the police but they were of no help. It was like they didn’t see that I was grieving,” Clarita told Rappler.
To save her other son Fernando, 15, Clarita sent him away to a boarding school far from Davao City. But even there, Fernando still received threats. He returned to Davao City in 2006, and on April 13, 2007, he too, was stabbed to death.
‘I am not God’:
Clarita understands that her fight goes beyond her sons — it’s a duty to her fellow Davaoeños and victims who don’t have the courage to stand up to Duterte. Her opposition to him won’t change the fact that her sons are already dead, and she knows that not everyone is, and can be like her — a mother who’s speaking against Duterte’s atrocities.
“If you are victims, fight. Fight for the lives of your kids or your spouses. Fight because you gave birth to them, and asked God for their lives. You should take care of those lives so that people don’t waste them easily,” shared Clarita. “[I am doing this] so [others] can stand up for themselves or on their own. Because when I’m gone they’ll be thankful that someone fought for what was right.”
But just like any other human being, Clarita also feels resentment and anger. She carries a heavy weight in her heart because she has been a lone soldier in her battle for justice. When she filed a complaint before with the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), she said she was interviewed only about her complaints, and nothing much came of it because of the body’s limited powers.
“Clarita Alia’s concerns were echoed by many other persons interviewed by Human Rights Watch. They said that even the witnesses to the killings were not willing to testify out of fear, believing that the police work hand in hand with death squad members,” said the HRW in its 2009 report.
Clarita feels bitterness toward members of the legal profession who did not help her when she needed them, but are now crying injustice when Duterte was arrested. “The lawyers didn’t care. All I can say is that those lawyers who are helping Digong now that he is being tried didn’t care about the people who were killed here. They are really blind,” Clarita said.
She feels strongly against fellow Davaoeños who still support the Dutertes despite the thousands killed in the name of his merciless anti-drug campaign. But while this reality pains her, Clarita is not mad at people who have chosen a divergent path.
“So I’m telling the people rallying in support of Duterte to use their heart for the people. For many years, they stayed alive while people died. They are alive but they’re disgusting. They are decaying already. They didn’t care about the victims before, and now, they cry [for] Digong? What is he? God? They idolize him too much. It hurts me,” she said.
But toward Duterte Clarita does not feel even an inch of pity. She doesn’t fear him, she despises him. Clarita wants him punished because he ordered the killings. Duterte needs to be locked up because he did not only enable violence, but also encouraged it by rewarding cruelty.
“Did he (Duterte) give me sympathy? Huh? They have money, I don’t because my only living is hard labor and they still killed my kids. They are shameless to ask for forgiveness. I’m not God, they should ask his forgiveness,” Clarita told Rappler.
“I don’t care if he dies there (ICC). If he dies there, he dies, no problem. It would be better if he dies there so he could feel what his victims felt. That’s actually possible because God knows what he did to others. He should be jailed there, die there, get old there.”
She lost 4 sons to Davao’s DDS killings and fears no one — not even Duterte
‘I don’t care if he dies there (ICC). If he dies there, he dies, no problem. It would be better if he dies there so he could feel what his victims felt,’ Clarita Alia, who lost four sons to Duterte’s kill orders, says
Emily and her teenaged son believed in the promise of Rodrigo Duterte. Then cops killed him.
I interviewed Emily in 2020.
She was a village security volunteer (barangay tanod) in an urban poor community in Quezon City, and truly believed Duterte’s promises of rehabilitation and livelihood assistance.
That was what she bought into.
She led police to the homes of users, hoping for that rehabilitation and new life. She urged others to surrender to avail of the same.
Her hopes for peace soon turned into a nightmare.
Police forced confessions and then tracked down and killed close to 6,000 in sanctioned operations, with a corps of vigilantes killing triple that number.
Those who claimed to have no links to illegal drugs were asked to list neighbors — or else.
The truth of “tokhang” ripped through the Soriano home on Dec. 28, 2016, when authorities killed 15-year-old Angelito and seven of his friends. They were “collateral damage” in a chase for a “suspect” — who later emerged as a police informer.
Inday Espina-Varona
Emily and her teenaged son believed in the promise of Rodrigo Duterte. Then cops killed him. I interviewed Emily in 2020. She was a village security volunteer (barangay tanod) in an urban poor…
Defense lawyers of former president Rodrigo Duterte have received the first set of evidence in the crimes against humanity case filed against him before the International Criminal Court.
A 3-page document uploaded on the ICC website said the prosecution has disclosed to the defense 181 items organized under pre-confirmation INCRIM package 001.
It said the items comprise material cited in the warrant of arrest for former president Duterte “with the exception of those items notified to the Chamber and the Defense in the Prosecution’s related application under regulation 35 of the Regulations of the Court.”
It said the annex to the filing is classified as “confidential” as it refers to confidential evidence disclosed inter partes.
Prosecutors send first set of evidence to Duterte defense | ABS-CBN News
Defense lawyers of former president Rodrigo Duterte have received the first set of evidence in the crimes against humanity case filed against him before the International Criminal Court.
VICTIMS ENCOURAGED TO SUBMIT VIEWS AND CONCERNS IN DUTERTE’S ICC CASE ICC takes initial steps to organize victims’ participation Victims’ participation in the International Criminal Court (ICC) is…
Aquino’s Masterstroke: How Duterte Fell Into His Own Trap
Duterte and his supporters spent years demonizing the Aquino administration, painting it as weak and incompetent. But in the end, it was Aquino’s single move that sealed Duterte’s fate.
According to the International Criminal Court (ICC), Duterte is still within its jurisdiction because the alleged crimes he committed fall within the period from November 1, 2011, to March 16, 2019—and guess what? It was Aquino’s administration that enrolled the Philippines in the ICC in November 2011, with the valuable assistance of none other than Duterte’s own spokesperson and former human rights advocate, Harry Roque. Yes, the same Harry Roque who once proudly championed the ICC, praising its role in fighting impunity, only to later become Duterte’s loudest defender against it. The irony just keeps getting better.
Meanwhile, Duterte, in his blind arrogance, pulled the country out of the ICC in March 2018, thinking it would shield him from prosecution. The problem? The withdrawal only took effect in March 2019, meaning everything he did up to that point is still under ICC jurisdiction. He thought he was being clever—instead, he walked straight into a trap Aquino set years before.
Duterte spent years attacking and smearing Aquino, convincing the public that his predecessor was weak, incapable, and a failure. But after all the propaganda, insults, and political maneuvering, a single signature from Aquino was enough to ensure Duterte’s downfall. And Aquino? He didn’t need to fight back—he simply let Duterte’s own arrogance do the job for him.
And when the time comes for Duterte to be arrested? The poetic justice couldn’t be any sweeter. The last place he’ll see before boarding his flight to The Hague? Ninoy Aquino International Airport. The very airport named after the man he and his allies insulted for years. Every sign, every announcement, and every check-in counter will remind him of the family he so desperately wanted to erase from history. There’s no escaping it.
Had Duterte not been so paranoid and desperate to dodge accountability, he could have faced trial in the Philippines. But now? His only chance at getting jailed is in The Hague or any ICC member country. He thought leaving the ICC would protect him—instead, it ensured he had nowhere to hide.
And speaking of dodging accountability, let’s not forget one glaring contrast: Aquino was always transparent about his wealth. He even signed a waiver to his bank accounts, proving he had nothing to hide. Meanwhile, Duterte? He refused to let the public know how much money he actually had.
A so-called “simple mayor” who lived modestly? Then why the secrecy? The contrast between Aquino and Duterte couldn’t be clearer—one was accountable, the other evasive.
And in another bizarre turn of events—two Filipinos were just arrested in Hong Kong for attempting to withdraw $10 billion from HSBC using fake documents. Yes, you read that right. $10 billion. The bank immediately flagged the transaction after noticing forged documents, leading to the arrest of the two suspects—one, an elderly man suffering from dementia, and the other, a woman claiming to be a lawyer.
Now, here’s where it gets interesting. $10 billion is roughly 573 billion pesos. To put that in perspective, some of the richest and most powerful men in the Philippines don’t even come close to that kind of money.
According to Forbes, here are the net worths of some of the country’s top business tycoons:
Ramon Ang, CEO of San Miguel Corporation, is worth $3.8 billion
Tony Tan Caktiong, the owner of Jollibee, is worth $2.9 billion
Jaime Zobel de Ayala, a titan of Philippine business, has an estimated net worth of $2.6 billion.
So, who is this mysterious Filipino billionaire who somehow has more money than these actual tycoons?
Perhaps the bigger question is: Was the old man with dementia the mastermind, or was he just the fall guy for something much bigger? Because if someone is out there pretending to be richer than the biggest business moguls in the country, we have to wonder—who are they covering for?
And here’s the cherry on top—Duterte’s supporters (DDS) are now desperately trying to report Bongbong Marcos (BBM) to the ICC. The problem? They can’t. Duterte made sure the Philippines is no longer an ICC member. Now, they have to sit back and accept that they played themselves.
Oh, and speaking of disappearing acts, where is Harry Roque now? Nowhere to be found. The same self-proclaimed human rights defender who once proudly stood for justice is now missing in action as his former boss faces international prosecution. It turns out, even Duterte’s most loyal mouthpieces know when to abandon a sinking ship.
Yes, it is great to defend someone you believe made you feel safe. The more people were killed, even the innocents, the safer you felt. The higher the death toll, the higher the leader’s trust rating, the more popular he became. Perhaps it was all part of a grand deception, targeting the gullible.
Maybe it was all just a coincidence. Or maybe it was one of the greatest tricks ever played on an entire nation.
The Aquinos—one stood unshaken in the face of a dictator, sacrificing his life so that a nation could break free from the chains of tyranny and reclaim its democracy. The other, though silent and unassuming, carried the weight of his family’s sacrifice and the hopes of a free people on his shoulders. He watched as the country teetered once more on the edge of despotism and knew he could not stand idly by.
So he acted—not for power, not for recognition, but because some battles must be fought, not for oneself, but for the generations yet to come. Because true heroes are not those who seek the spotlight, but those who quietly stand firm in the storm, determined to ensure that no Filipino will ever again have to live under the shadow of a tyrant.
I might be wrong, but history has a way of unraveling the truth behind the world’s most infamous dictators—no matter how invincible they once seemed.
The real solution to the drug problem doesn’t lie in brute force or bloodshed but in comprehensive reforms, rehabilitation programs, a stronger justice system, and tackling the root causes of drug abuse—poverty, lack of education, and weak law enforcement. The war on drugs is not just a Philippine issue; it is a global challenge—one that countless nations have tried and failed to conquer.
So how do we truly win the war on drugs?
That is the $10 billion question.
Robert Molina
CTTO Aquino’s Masterstroke: How Duterte Fell Into His Own Trap Duterte and his supporters spent years demonizing the Aquino administration, painting it as weak and incompetent. But in the end, it…
“We won’t be accepted in heaven. Let’s be frank,” President Duterte told his supporters. “So I will just bring you to hell and do not be afraid, I will wait for you there. We will stay together there.”
…
He then told his supporters not to be afraid of death, even as he joked that only a few of them would reach heaven.
“Most of the people here will go to hell… Do not be afraid, I will wait for you there,” Duterte said. “We won’t be accepted in heaven. Let’s be frank… So I will just bring you to hell and do not be afraid, I will wait for you there. We will stay together there,” he added.
But never fear, as Duterte will “unseat” Satan and become Hell’s new alpha male:
Duterte also asked his supporters not to be afraid of Satan, whom he said he would unseat once he is in hell.
“Do not be afraid of Satan because once you arrive there, I will show you an exhibition, I will proceed to his throne, slap him and tell him, ‘you leave, otherwise I will cut your tail and turn that into bulalo (beef marrow stew),” the President said in jest.? Duterte also thanked his supporters for helping him win the presidency and vowed to pay his debt of gratitude to them someday.
Testimony in a new International Criminal Court (ICC) case corroborates a police report claiming Michael Yang, who is close to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, ran meth labs on the island of Mindanao in the early 2000s. Yang has since been linked to alleged procurement corruption, and a Philippine Senate committee has suggested he could face criminal charges.
Key findings:
Testimony provided to the ICC has linked Yang to the narcotics trade in a city where Duterte was formerly mayor.
Duterte has led a brutal crackdown under the auspices of a ‘war on drugs’ that critics have said is a cover for extrajudicial killings. The ICC in mid-September opened a case on the drug campaign as well as extrajudicial killings committed by a ‘death squad’ during Duterte’s two decades as mayor of Davao City.
Under Duterte, Yang and an associate have become successful and powerful businessmen in the Philippines, brokering deals through China’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative.
Yang is linked to a procurement scandal in which Duterte’s government handed out allegedly overpriced contracts for COVID-19 supplies.
The Philippine Senate looked into the COVID-19 contracts and summoned Yang to testify. A Senate committee has since said that Yang could face charges including perjury or false testimony.
Philippine President Duterte’s Former Economic Adviser was a “Drug Lord,” Says Affidavit in New ICC Case
Testimony in a new International Criminal Court (ICC) case corroborates a police report claiming Michael Yang, who is close to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, ran meth labs on the island of Mindanao in the early 2000s. Yang has since been linked to alleged procurement corruption, and a Philippine Senate committee…
Don’t worry FPRRD Supporters. Don’t be sad.
You will be REUNITED with him. Pangako niya.
He will WAIT FOR YOU. Be patient.
MAGKAKASAMA-SAMA din daw kayo.…
