After skipping previous proceedings, former president Rodrigo Duterte marked his first public appearance in one year and six months after attending the last status conference for his crimes against humanity case at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday, before he stands trial on 30 November.

Unlike his first court appearance on 14 March last year, which was virtual, Duterte appeared in the courtroom alongside his defense team, and the ICC prosecutors, the counsel for the victims, and the three judges of Trial Chamber III.

The 81-year-old Duterte wore a white button-down shirt and a black collared jacket. He looked well and in better spirits than at his initial appearance despite his counsel’s claim that he was suffering memory impairment. He was seated at the back behind his lawyers.

Presiding Judge Joanna Korner acknowledged Duterte’s presence at the start of the proceedings and advised him that he could leave the courtroom if he wished.

Duterte stayed, however, until the end of the proceedings that lasted a little over an hour.

Wednesday’s hearing marked the third status conference in Duterte’s case. The first two were held on 27 May and 24 June, which the former president skipped, like he did the confirmation of charges hearing in February.

During Wednesday’s proceedings, defense lead counsel Peter Haynes protested what he called the excessive volume of evidence the prosecution intends to present against Duterte.

According to Haynes, the evidence has grown to almost 20,000 items in the main list, plus 62,500 exhibits, totaling 324,000 pages of evidence. They also include “over a thousand video and audio files, which run to many thousands of hours.”

Haynes deemed it “unworkable” and “impossible” for the defense to process all the items effectively, given that the trial is less than two months away.

“They are in a terrible mess. Of the disclosure, this case has been awful,” the British lawyer said.

“Notwithstanding your imploring them to be focused on being economical in May, the list of exhibits has quadrupled,” he told Korner.

Although the judge acknowledged Haynes’s concerns, she noted that the use of digital tools could help manage large datasets.

In contrast, Korner advised the prosecution to reduce its number of witnesses so they could conclude the case as “quickly as possible.”

Prosecutor Edward Jeremy, however, countered that their proposed 193 hours to present their case was already the trimmed version of their initial target.

Previously, Korner instructed the prosecution to limit its presentation of evidence to speed up the proceedings, citing Duterte’s advanced age and supposed frail condition.

She also ordered the ICC prosecutors to avoid redundancies and restrict video, audio, and testimonial evidence to the strict minimum required. During the previous conference, she took issue with the prosecution’s plan to submit 197 speeches of Duterte as part of their evidence.

In a filing two days before the latest status conference, Haynes had said that Duterte was still suffering significant memory impairment, preventing him from retaining recent information and reliably accessing memories.

Duterte’s condition, he said, made it challenging for his lawyers to engage him meaningfully on the charges, the alleged incidents, and the thousands of disclosed items of evidence.

Haynes claimed that Duterte could barely recognize him as his counsel, as well as his family, and there were instances that he thought “he was living in 2007 or 2008.”

“The Trial Chamber cannot be expected to treat these severe limitations in his abilities as mere underperformance on the part of the accused — particularly where none of the experts has suggested that such underperformance was deliberate — without first being fully apprised of the existence of any underlying pathological condition capable of explaining the impairments identified,” Haynes said in the filing.

Dabawenyos celebrate

Meanwhile, Dabawenyos expressed elation after the former president appeared in person for his third status conference since he was detained in March 2025.

Residents of Davao City took to social media to express how much they missed the former president, with posts bearing messages such as, “We really miss you, Tatay Digong,” alongside photos of Duterte appearing before the ICC court.

One social media user posted: “Did you see FPRRD? He looks so fresh and handsome,” while another wrote, “Tatay Digong looks so handsome, like a Korean.”

“Bring him home alive,” another post said.