Duterte allies may face ICC warrants

The International Criminal Court may issue arrest warrants for former President Rodrigo Duterte’s alleged co-perpetrators in the deadly war on drugs — potentially including police officers — following the pre-trial hearing scheduled for 23 September, an ICC-accredited lawyer said Monday.

Human rights lawyer Kristina Conti, legal counsel for several drug war victims, believes the ICC prosecutors may be delaying their request for an arrest warrant until the pre-trial hearing — where Duterte is expected to deny any involvement in the drug war and shift the blame to the law enforcers who carried out the summary killings.

“Perhaps it will be in September because a lot of information might come out then. If Duterte says at the hearing, ‘It wasn’t me,’ then names others in his defense, there might still be information to be obtained,” Conti said in Filipino in an interview. “It’s possible the prosecution is still preparing to submit arrest warrants.”

Conti noted that the ongoing parallel investigation in the Philippines could be a factor for the delay, as ICC prosecutors may be monitoring local developments to determine who should be named in the warrants. She believes the warrants will likely target a specific group.

“The prosecution may be focusing on a team. It’s the prosecution that works on the arrest warrant,” she said.

Duterte is identified as an indirect co-perpetrator in the bloody drug war, alongside at least nine others whose identities have yet to be disclosed.

Records of the ICC showed that Duterte carried out the so-called “common plan” with his co-perpetrators, including members of the Philippine National Police, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, and the National Bureau of Investigation, among others.

The “common plan” referred to Duterte’s policies to eradicate illegal drugs, which allegedly involved systematic killings, torture, and other crimes to eliminate suspected drug offenders.

The operations originated during Duterte’s time as mayor of Davao City and were scaled up nationwide after he became president in 2016.

According to Conti, Duterte’s liability remains substantial, as he is seen as the mastermind of the orchestrated killings—even in the absence of direct participation.

“Who issued the orders? Because if no one had operated or implemented Duterte’s directives, there wouldn’t have been any killings, right?” she said. “It’s possible that the other co-perpetrators would be viewed as minor players. So everything will be blamed on him.”

The names of Senator Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa and retired police chief Oscar Albayalde have been repeatedly cited as co-perpetrators, having spearheaded the brutal drug war which saw over 6,000 official deaths based on government data.

The figure only covered Duterte’s tenure as president, but rights watchdogs estimate the actual death toll could exceed 30,000, most of them from low-income communities.

De la Rosa was Duterte’s PNP chief from 2016 to mid-2018 and was succeeded by Albayalde, who allegedly continued implementing the drug war.

Albayalde had vowed not to resist arrest should an ICC warrant be enforced, while De la Rosa said he would seek refuge in the Senate to evade ICC arrest.

The senator maintained that the ICC no longer has jurisdiction over the Philippines following its withdrawal from the Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding treaty, in March 2019.

The ICC, however, asserted that it still retains jurisdiction over the crimes committed before the country’s withdrawal.

De la Rosa had charged that retired cops were being coerced into signing affidavits to implicate him and his former boss, Duterte. He vowed to launch a congressional investigation into the matter.