EJK victims' lawyer: ICC focused on Digong's 'shoot to kill' admission

The lawyer of drug war victims disputed Monday Vice President Sara Duterte’s assumption that the prosecution’s evidence against his father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, may not stand in court, citing the alleged inconsistencies in their proofs and the number of bloody anti-drug campaign’s death toll.

Former president Duterte’s war on drugs saw more than 6,000 people killed, based on the government’s data. Rights groups, however, estimated that the actual death toll could reach as high as 30,000, affecting predominantly low-income families and communities.

Vice President Duterte, over the weekend, cast doubt on the veracity of the prosecution’s evidence, numbering 181, citing the need to name the 30,000 individuals supposedly killed under the drug war. She argued that failure to do so would not substantiate the allegations of widespread and systematic killings.

However, former Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares, one of the legal counsels of the families of the drug war victims, asserted that the focal point is not the gravity of the death rate but the brazen admission and marching orders of senior Duterte to police to kill drug suspects, resulting in extrajudicial killings.

"The issue isn’t just about the exact number of dead—it’s about a president openly ordering killings, police acting with impunity, and a justice system that failed victims. The ICC exists precisely because powerful figures like Duterte evade local accountability. Whether it’s 30 or 30,000, state-sponsored murder is a crime against humanity," Colmenares pointed out.

In a congressional hearing last year, Duterte admitted that he takes “full, legal responsibility” for the massive summary killings and that police officers must be spared from liability.

He also told lawmakers under oath that he encouraged police to provoke drug suspects to fight back as a pretext to kill them.

The progressive human rights lawyer cited previous rulings in the ICC, such as that of Congolese rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda, who was sentenced to up to 30 years in prison after being found guilty of five counts of crimes against humanity in 2019 for intentionally directing attacks against civilians.

He added that Dominic Owen, a former leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda, was also convicted to 25 years in prison for 61 counts of the same charge in 2021 for sanctioning the killing of large numbers of civilians, among other grave crimes.

"Based on these ICC decisions, there is no way that the ICC will release Pres. Duterte because less than 30,000 killed are not serious enough to be considered crimes against humanity,” Colmenares asserted.

Under the provided timetable of the ICC, senior Duterte’s legal defense team has until 11 April to submit its counter-evidence.

The prosecution had already furnished the ICC and Duterte’s camp with the set of evidence to be used during the trial, although they still have until 4 April to submit additional pieces of evidence.

The 80-year-old Duterte is currently in ICC custody following his arrest on 11 March in Manila upon his return from Hong Kong. He is facing accusations of crimes against humanity for 43 extrajudicial killings under his drug war, including those executed by the Davao Death Squad during his tenure as Davao City mayor.

According to Vice President Duterte, a lawyer herself, the legal counsels of the drug war victims are “stupid” to enter 181 pieces of evidence against his father but failed to provide the names of 30,000 alleged victims to prove the systematic and state-sponsored killing.

But Colmenares explained that the 43 cases only provided a representation of the widespread attacks for the purpose of requesting the issuance of the warrant and that does not mean that the number of charges may be limited to the same figure.

Citing the case of Bosco, ICC assistant to counsel Kristina Conti clarified that the international tribunal itself defined the term “widespread” as large-scale in nature and targeted at a large number of persons.

“The assessment of whether the attack is widespread is neither exclusively quantitative nor geographical, but must be carried out on the basis of all the relevant facts of the case,” Conti said over the weekend, citing a 2019 verdict by the ICC.

Meanwhile, Colmenares stated that although the 43 cases are already sufficient to secure the conviction of senior Duterte for crimes against humanity, he called on the Department of Justice and the Philippine National Police to submit relevant documents that the prosecution could add as additional evidence in the trial.

Senior Duterte made his first appearance before the ICC judges on 14 March, just three days after being arrested. He is set to face the ICC judges again on 23 September for the confirmation of the charges against him.

Rise Up for Life and for Rights, a group advocating for justice on behalf of the families of drug war victims, had urged the ICC to deny a potential petition for the interim release of Duterte to ensure that he will not pose a danger or threat to the victims and witnesses of his drug war.