Vice President Sara Duterte has questioned whether all deaths cited in the International Criminal Court's (ICC) case against former President Rodrigo Duterte were actually linked to the government's anti-drug campaign, arguing that some killings may have resulted from ordinary criminal violence rather than state-led anti-narcotics operations.

Speaking before supporters gathered outside the ICC detention facility in The Hague on 29 July, Duterte defended her father's signature anti-drug campaign and maintained that the existence of the drug war itself does not constitute a crime against humanity.

"The government has a policy of zero tolerance for illegal drugs," Duterte said. "They created the drug war. That is the program. That is the anti-drug program. It is called drug war, 'Tokhang.'"

She argued that flaws or mistakes in the implementation of a government program should not automatically be treated as crimes against humanity.

Duterte also challenged the assertion that all individuals listed in the ICC proceedings were victims of the anti-drug campaign, citing what she described as the prevalence of gun violence in the Philippines.

"I have a husband. My husband has a mistress. I can hire a gunman for P5,000 to kill the mistress," Duterte said, using a hypothetical example to illustrate her point.

"How can you say that all your listed victims, all your listed complainants are supposed victims of the drug war?" she added.

The vice president said some killings could have stemmed from personal disputes, crimes of passion, robberies or other criminal acts unrelated to anti-drug operations.

"It can be a crime of passion. It can be murder because of a third party in a relationship. It can be plain hold-up," she said.

Duterte likewise criticized the pace of the ICC proceedings against her father, saying more than a year had passed since the former president was brought to The Hague and that little progress had been made in the case.

Drug war death figures

Human rights lawyer Neri Colmenares, counsel for victims represented by Rise Up for Life and for Rights before the ICC, told the DAILY TRIBUNE that Duterte's remarks mischaracterized the evidence submitted by victims' groups before the ICC, which led its prosecutors to open a formal investigation into alleged killings committed between November 2011 and March 2019, covering both Duterte's time as mayor of Davao City and his presidency.

The complaint, he said, did not assume that all killings during the Duterte administration were connected to the drug war. Instead, it relied on deaths that Philippine authorities themselves had identified as occurring during anti-drug operations.

"If she studied the Communication and Complaint filed by Rise Up for Life in 2018 with the ICC against Pres. Duterte, we only used those killings admitted by Pres. Duterte's PNP which was initially 4,410 killings, and later 6,252,” Colmenares said.

The figures cited by Colmenares refer to suspects killed in police anti-drug operations during Duterte's presidency, according to data released by the Philippine National Police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

Colmenares said the complaint also included cases supported by witness testimony identifying police officers as perpetrators.

"By saying that these could have resulted from crimes of passion is an admission on the part of VP Duterte that she doesn't know anything and she's just speculating," he said.

"She may use speculation in media press releases but not in court proceedings where evidence is used to prove allegations."###