ICC rejects Duterte's bid to disqualify 3 Filipino counsel of drug war victims

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday rejected former president Rodrigo Duterte camp’s petition to disqualify three Filipino external lawyers representing victims of his bloody drug war on the grounds of “conflict of interest.”

The Pre-Trial Chamber I dismissed the defense’s allegations that the appointment of Joel Butuyan, Gilbert Andres, and Nicolene Arcaina as external legal representatives was “an impediment to representation” and constituted a conflict of interest as nothing but “speculative and hypothetical.”

The defense, according to the chamber, failed to clearly point out the legal basis of their petition.

“The chamber, therefore, urges the defence to place substance over stylistic and theatrical formulation,” the nine-page ruling reads.

Duterte’s lead legal counsel, Nicholas Kaufman,

petitioned the court to revoke the appointment of Butuyan, Andres, and Arcania, almost two weeks before the confirmation of charges hearing scheduled from 23 to 27 February.

Kaufman argued that Butuyan and Andres approved the appointment of Arcaina in the external legal team, despite their prior professional connection with her, which he said could affect the fairness of the proceedings, in alleged violation of Articles 7(4) and 12 of the ICC’s Code of Professional Conduct for Counsel.

He alleged that Arcainia, the current case manager, worked closely with Butuyan and Andres as a fellow and staff lawyer at CenterLaw Philippines from March 2019 to December 2023.

The law firm, co-founded by lawyer Harry Roque — now allied with Duterte and who had served as his spokesperson — might have previously worked with ICC prosecutors during their investigation into the drug war in the Philippines, according to Kaufman.

Furthermore, he pointed out, as the victims’ case manager, Arcania’s role is structurally incompatible, and that she might have obtained sensitive information from the prosecution.

Kaufman alleged that Butuyan and Andres deliberately ignored the provisions in question by approving Arcania’s appointment to their team despite it constituting a “conflict of interest.”

However, the PTC-I pointed out that the defense assumption of a conflict of interest was misplaced because Arcania is not a lawyer of the victims, but a case manager.

“The defence’s arguments misconceive such distinctions and attempt to raise an issue of impediment to representation under article 12 of the Code against a team member of the CLRV (common legal representation of victims)who does not act as counsel within the meaning of that article,” the ruling reads.

“In addition, the Chamber considers that the defence does not substantiate how Mr. Butuyan and Mr. Andres’s awareness of Ms. Arcaina’s [redacted], if at all, would represent an impediment to their representation under [redacted], as it fails to argue how Ms. Arcaina, as case manager of the CLRV team, could fall within the category of [redacted] as defined under article 2(2) of the Code,” it added.

Furthermore, the chamber stressed that the differences in roles, mandates, or obligations of these two entities do not per se indicate the existence of a conflict of interest.

“In light of the above, the chamber finds that the defence’s alternative arguments do not demonstrate the existence of a conflict of interest regarding Mr Butuyan and Mr Andres within the meaning of article 16 of the Code,” the decision further reads.

The PTC-I will commence the confirmation of charges hearing from 23 to 27 February, getting the ball rolling on Duterte’s crimes against humanity case following a five-month delay.

Duterte, however, waived his attendance, which was approved by the court.

Duterte, 80, is facing three counts of murder for crimes against humanity over the killings recorded between 1 November 2011 and 16 March 2019, spanning his time as Davao City mayor and as president.