Vice President Sara Duterte accused the International Criminal Court (ICC) of pursuing former President Rodrigo Duterte to counter criticism that it disproportionately prosecutes African leaders.

She also questioned whether all the deaths cited in the tribunal’s case were actually linked to the government’s anti-drug campaign.

Addressing supporters outside the ICC detention facility at The Hague, Duterte claimed her father was the court’s “Asian poster boy.”

“President Duterte is the Asian poster boy in answer to the attacks that the ICC is only going after the black race,” she said.

She alleged that the tribunal shifted its attention to an Asian leader while avoiding Western ones.

“Oh, we have an Asian now. We’re done with the blacks. Let’s go to the Asians. To hell with the whites. We cannot go after them. Let’s go after this one person who was delivered by Marcos to us,” she said.

Duterte also questioned the ICC’s jurisdiction over the Philippines following its withdrawal from the Rome Statute and renewed her family’s claim that the former president was “kidnapped.”

‘Puppets’

She argued that he qualified for interim release because he was neither a flight risk nor capable of interfering with the proceedings.

Duterte also accused President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV of helping the ICC pursue the case, alleging — without presenting evidence — that the tribunal had become a “puppet” of the two.

Defending her father’s anti-illegal drug campaign, Duterte said implementing a policy of “zero tolerance for illegal drugs” did not constitute a crime against humanity.

She also disputed the ICC’s victim list, arguing that not all the deaths cited in the case could automatically be attributed to anti-drug operations.

“I have a husband. My husband has a mistress. I can hire a gunman for P5,000 to kill the mistress,” she said, using a hypothetical example to argue that some killings could have resulted from crimes of passion, robberies and personal disputes.

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

Meanwhile, human rights lawyer Neri Colmenares, counsel for the victims represented by Rise Up for Life and for Rights before the ICC, rejected Duterte’s claim, saying the complaint relied only on deaths officially recorded by Philippine authorities during anti-drug operations.

Speculating

“If she studied the communication and complaint filed by Rise Up for Life in 2018 with the ICC against President Duterte, we only used those killings admitted by President Duterte’s PNP, which was initially 4,410 killings, and later 6,252,” Colmenares told DAILY TRIBUNE.

He said the complaint also included witness testimony identifying police officers as the 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,” Colmenares said.

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