FORMER Philippine President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s pending crimes against humanity charge at the International Criminal Court (ICC) is still valid even if not all alleged cases of vigilante killings during his bloody drug war were cited, a former congressman said on Monday.
The international tribunal will proceed with the trial, regardless of the number cited in his case, ex-Party-list Rep. Neri J. Colmenares, who is also chairman of political group Bayan Muna, said.
“The issue isn’t just about the exact number of dead — it’s about a president openly ordering killings, police acting with impunity, and a justice system that failed victims,” he said in a statement. “Whether it’s 30 or 30,000, state-sponsored murder is a crime against humanity.”
Vice-President Sara Z. Duterte-Carpio, Mr. Duterte’s daughter, last week cast doubt on the validity of her father’s ICC case, saying that prosecutors would likely fail to prove that the former firebrand leader’s government sanctioned state-sponsored killings during his drug war.
She said that evidence presented by prosecutors falls short of proving the scale of alleged extrajudicial killings during her father’s administration. ICC prosecutors cited only 181 pieces of evidence, far fewer than the estimated lives lost between 2016 and 2022, when Mr. Duterte was president, she added.
More than 6,000 suspected drug users and dealers were killed throughout Mr. Duterte’s six-year administration, according to government data. Human rights groups have claimed the death toll could be as many as 30,000.
The ICC has been investigating the ex-President for alleged crimes against humanity that he allegedly committed when he was Davao City mayor and during the first three years of his government, when the Philippines was still a party to the international tribunal.
“The complaint we filed in the ICC listed 3,427 killed as of July 31, 2018 because this was the number of victims killed as officially admitted by the PNP (Philippine National Police),” said Mr. Colmenares.
“If she thinks that her father cannot be convicted because he only ordered the killing of less than 30,000 people, then she is dead wrong,” he added.
The Office of the Vice-President did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio
