International Criminal Court preparations for the trial proper alone of former president Rodrigo Duterte could take six months to one and a half years, an ICC-accredited lawyer said Friday.

Lawyer Gilbert Andres, one of the common legal representatives for the drug war victims, explained that this is the usual timeline for court preparations, as seen in previous cases of an ICC-accused.

“The earliest start of the trial will be six months from yesterday, so that's probably October of this year. But having said that, based also [on] other previous cases, it may take 1.5 years, but we really hope and we will work out that it will start this year, 2026,” Andres said in an online program.

Prior to the trial proper, the ICC presidency will appoint three new judges to constitute the Trial Chamber, which will take on the proceedings after the charges are confirmed.

This stage would involve case conferences among the lawyers of all the parties, as well as exchanges and disclosure of evidence, according to Andres.

The Pre-Trial Chamber I confirmed all three charges of murder against Duterte on Thursday, effectively sending his crimes against humanity case to a full trial following a months-long delay. 

The decision came a day after the defense lost the petition challenging the ICC’s jurisdiction over Duterte anew.

Duterte, 81, has been detained in the ICC custody in The Hague since 11 March last year over his role as an “indirect co-perpetrator” in the alleged extrajudicial killings tied to his notorious bloody drug war.

Kaufman slams ICC ruling

ICC prosecutors charged him with three counts of murder for the killings of 78 individuals, including six children, allegedly suspected of drug dealings from 2013 to 2018, spanning his tenure as Davao mayor and as president. 

Duterte’s lead counsel, Nicholas Kaufman, stressed that the latest ruling no longer came as a surprise. Still, he criticized the PTC-I for its alleged erroneous interpretation of “neutralize,”

which was understood as “kill” by those involved in the killings and turned witnesses in the case.

Recall that during the confirmation of charges hearing in late February, the defense argued that the interpretation of “neutralize” can be found nowhere in Command Memorandum Circular 16-2016, which outlined general guidelines and tasks for police officers in the nationwide conduct of “Project Double Barrel,” commonly known as “Oplan Tokhang,” signed by then-PNP chief Bato de la Rosa on 1 July 2016, Duterte’s first day in office. 

He argued that it was not explicitly defined in any of the documents cited by the prosecution, and insisted that the term denotes “lawful restraint.”

Kaufman also hit the prosecutors for heavily relying on the “uncorroborated statements” from the witnesses he derided as “self-confessed murderers,” whose credibility was “never assessed at confirmation.”  

Nonetheless, Kaufman vowed that the defense would prove that the so-called “state policy”, which formed the basis of the summary killings, is a “complete fiction.”

“The defense will also show that the evidence of the very same criminal witnesses, so gleefully peddled by the former president’s many detractors, has zero weight,” he warned. 

In response, Andres dismissed Kaufman’s statement as “false,” asserting that no less than the Supreme Court in 2018 concluded that there may be a policy of extrajudicial killings in the anti-drug operations waged by the Duterte administration.

Meanwhile, in a 2017 accomplishment report, the administration itself boasted at least 3,000 deaths under police operations.

“There [is] actually very clear evidence that this was a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population, and there was a state and an organizational policy to commit murders under this anti-drug campaign,” he underscored.

Furthermore, he also disputed Kaufman’s allegations that the witnesses were not credible, given their alleged questionable backgrounds.

“[They were] very credible witnesses because they are insiders; they're part of the widespread and systematic attack. They are part of the policy. They were the ones who were implementing the policy, and they're the low-level perpetrators,” he stressed. 

Ex-DDS members as witnesses vs Digong?

Speculations suggested that key witnesses, though not explicitly divulged by the court, may include former members of the Davao Death Squad.

ICC records showed that the group was comprised of Davao-based police officers and hitmen responsible for the summary killings in Davao, and was founded and headed by Duterte during his stint as the city mayor. 

Senior Trial Lawyer Julian Nicholls of the Office of the Prosecutor previously cited testimonies from a supposed ex-member of the DDS, who alleged that they received cash rewards from Duterte for killing drug suspects. 

Meanwhile, DDS members who were not police received their rewards in the form of salaries, allegedly appointed as “ghost employees” at Davao City Hall.

Aside from cash gifts, ICC prosecutors also accused former president Duterte of equipping DDS with weapons, ammunition, and logistical support to facilitate the commission of the crime.

ICC prosecutors have argued that while he might not have personally killed the said victims, Duterte, as an indirect co-perpetrator, held top responsibility for ordering, encouraging, or facilitating the killings through his subordinates, like the police and DDS.

The recent ruling states that Duterte and his co-perpetrators executed a “common plan” to “neutralize” criminals in the Philippines, including those perceived or alleged to be associated with drug use, sale, or production. The scheme involves systematic killings, torture, murder, and other crimes.

The ruling also mentioned the key roles of Senators De la Rosa and Bong Go in implementing the common plan. They were named as co-perpetrators alongside former Justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, and De la Rosa’s successor, former PNP chief Oscar Albayalde. 

Others are Vicente Danao and Isidro Lapeña, former Davao City Police chiefs; Camilo Cascolan, finance chief of the Davao Region Police Office; Dante Gierran, Davao regional director of the National Bureau of Investigation; and other unnamed law-enforcement high-ranking officers.

Andres said at present, the families of the drug war victims remain hopeful that the ICC will issue the warrant against the co-perpetrators following the defeat of Duterte.