International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutors on Tuesday proceeded with Day 2 of the pre-trial hearing of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s crimes against humanity, focusing on the killings of “high-value” targets (HVT), which include mayors, top-level government officials, and law enforcement groups, among others, under “Oplan Tokhang.”

Prosecutor and trial lawyer Edward Jeremy presented in the courtroom a copy of the so-called “PRRD list,” or a spreadsheet containing the names and the photos of the individuals considered HVT allegedly involved in illegal drug dealings.

“[T]his [list] was used by the police in their operations. And if you are on the list, you will be subject to police operations. And most of the time, the people on the list are killed. […] So basically, the PRRD list is [….] a dead list,” a copy of the testimony of an unnamed witness presented by Jeremy read.

The HVT includes, among others, the late Albuera mayor Rolando Espinosa, who was shot dead inside his jail cell, allegedly after firing at police officers, in November 2016.

Duterte, in a clip presented as evidence by the prosecution, said that he ordered the tracking down of Espinosa, whom he said, luckily, was able to turn himself in to former PNP chief, now Senator Bato dela Rosa, before being “shot on sight like a dog.”

ICC prosecutors named Dela Rosa as one of the “co-perpetrators” of Duterte in crimes against humanity. He has been absent from the Senate since November amid rumors of an impending ICC warrant.

The alleged drug dealers were categorized into five levels, with Level 1, which includes street-level drug dealers, lower government officials and police, being at the bottom.

Heads of government departments, barangay chairmen, and sub-distributors fall under Level 2.

Meanwhile, HVTs are classified as Level 3, along with senior government officials, members and executives of the judiciary, and members of law enforcement groups.

The Level 4 category covers drug lords in local units and Chinese distributors, and couriers, while drug financers, wholesalers and high-ranking PNP and AFP officials are placed in Level 5 or the top level.

A photo of Espinosa in the “PRRD list” was eventually crossed out in red, which, a witness confirmed, meant that he had been killed, Jeremy said. The list was the same one Duterte had previously displayed during a public address.

These killings, according to the prosecution, were formalized through Command Memorandum Circular 16-2016, issued and signed by Dela Rosa on 1 July 2016, Duterte’s first day in office as president.

The memorandum outlined general guidelines and tasks for police offices, units, and stations in the nationwide conduct of the anti-drug campaign, dubbed “Project Double Barrel” and commonly known as “Oplan Tokhang.”

It stipulates that the issuance follows Duterte’s orders “to get rid of illegal drugs during the first six months of his term.”

ICC prosecutors’ witnesses claimed that the killings often targeted the poor because they are least likely to file complaints due to financial incapacity.

The nationwide extrajudicial killings were allegedly modeled after the “Davao model,” which provides reward payments for perpetrators in exchange for neutralizing alleged drug dealers.

Jeremy told the court that Duterte expanded and replicated the scheme that originated during his time as Davao mayor, when he assumed the presidency.

The budget, he said, was not sourced from PNP funding but was provided by Duterte himself, as evident in his several public speeches.

According to Jeremy, Duterte appointed his co-perpetrators in Davao to senior positions in government and police.

“In these high-level positions, Mr. Duterte and his co-perpetrators had authority over thousands of state personnel, including those who formed the national network that the co-perpetrators used to carry out the charged crimes,” Jeremy told the court.

The prosecution also presented several clips of Duterte’s public speeches, where he openly encouraged police and military troops to kill criminals and drug dealers regardless of whether or not they resist arrest.

Jeremy lamented that Duterte, being a “well-versed” in law as a former prosecutor, “occasionally seeks to legitimize his encouragement of state violence.”

“For as long as I’m president, nobody but nobody, no military man or police man will go to prison because they performed their duties well. I will be the one to go to jail. Just say that it’s [my] order,” Duterte said in a 20 September 2016 speech delivered before military troops.

In the same speech, Duterte gave his blessing to the military to massacre criminals, with the assurance of giving them a pardon and a promotion.