Hand ICC Duterte’s ‘admission,’ Senate prodded

House lawmakers urged their counterparts in the Senate on Tuesday to submit to the International Criminal Court (ICC) the affidavits and recordings of its probe, where former President Rodrigo Duterte bluntly admitted accountability for the killings of thousands of drug suspects under his watch.

House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro said Duterte’s unapologetic admission of encouraging police to provoke drug suspects into fighting back as a pretext to kill them is a “clear violation of human rights and due process,” which the ICC should investigate.

“With Duterte’s own admission of responsibility, there should be no more delays in pursuing justice,” Castro said. “His confession about maintaining a death squad and encouraging extrajudicial killings demands full cooperation with the ICC because, as it is, justice is still hard to come by in our country, especially when one is dealing with the former president.”

At the first Senate hearing into Duterte’s bloody drug war on Monday, the erstwhile president admitted under oath that he “takes full, legal responsibility” for his anti-drug campaign and that the police must be spared any liability.

He did not offer any excuses or apologies, stating that he did what he had to do to protect the country from illegal drugs.

He also confirmed that he had a “death squad” comprised of “gangsters” who killed criminals during his decade-long stint as Davao City mayor.

The Philippines withdrew from the ICC in March 2019, but some lawmakers have insisted that it still retains jurisdiction over any potential crimes against humanity committed during the drug war.

Kabataan Rep. Raoul Manuel said it’s like Duterte “[dug] his own grave” by giving such a heavy testimony, which the ICC could use to hold him criminally liable.

“The evidence that can be used in the cases against him at the International Criminal Court is growing,” Manuel said.

While House Quad Committee co-chair Bienvenido Abante Jr. said that Duterte’s “honest” confession could lead to his own prosecution for potentially violating Republic Act 9851, which defines and penalizes crimes against humanity, he would not allow the ICC to use the panel’s proceedings to go after him.

“I have always been true to my statement since we started the EJK (extrajudicial killings) hearings that I’m not going to allow the ICC to get our documents for that,” he told reporters in a briefing on Monday.

Abante is convinced the ICC is closely monitoring the panel’s inquiry and that they already have the documents that they could use to initiate their “own investigation.”

Senate President Francis Escudero did not dismiss the idea that other parties may file a criminal case against Duterte following the testimony he gave under oath.

Notwithstanding his bombshell revelations in the Senate, Duterte’s appearance at the Quad Committee hearing would still be necessary, according to House members.

Abante said there’s no excuse for Duterte to skip their next hearing into his war on drugs, given that he was “physically well” during the Senate probe.

“We expect the former president to show up in our next hearing. We have many questions to ask him about his war on drugs and the deaths that resulted from it. We believe his answers will give us a more complete picture of the extrajudicial killings,” he noted.

“There are many complaints against him and his drug war implementers, including his PNP chief, Senator Bato dela Rosa. That’s on the Quad Committee record, so we want to hear their side. That’s the right process, not the defense that comes first in the complaint,” the lawmaker added.

Duterte was a no-show at the quad committee’s ninth hearing last week, citing sickness. His legal counsel, Martin Delgra III, however, assured lawmakers that Duterte was keen on participating in a subsequent probe and will show up before the committee in November.

The quad committee is expected to continue its investigation when Congress resumes its session next week.