Marcos admin urged to allow ICC probe Duterte's drug war anew
MANILA, Philippines — The Magdalo group on Monday urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s administration to allow the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigators into the country to hold former President Rodrigo Duterte accountable for alleged "crimes against humanity."
Magdalo National Chairperson Antonio Trillanes IV said that the group issued the statement in response to Duterte's recent admission that he used the confidential or intelligence funds for extrajudicial killings during his tenure as Davao City mayor.
“Being the original filers of the ICC case in 2017, we have witnessed and documented the barbaric actions of the past administration, as well as the trauma and hardships that the thousands of victims and their families have suffered, ” Trillanes, also a former senator, said in a statement.
“Truly, justice is long overdue,” he added.
In an interview with Sonshine Media Network International on October 12, Duterte said that he used the intelligence funds to conduct the killings in Davao City.
“Ang intelligence fund, binili ko, pinapatay ko lahat. Kaya ganun ang Davao. 'Yung mga kasama ninyo pinatigok ko talaga. 'Yun ang totoo,” Duterte said in an interview while talking to one of Federal Bureau of Investigation's most-wanted, Apollo Quiboloy.
(I bought the intelligence fund, and I had everyone killed. That's how it was in Davao. I really eliminated those who were with you. That's the truth.)
The said interview has been taken down.
Trillanes, who submitted a supplemental communication to the ICC regarding the extrajudicial killings in 2017, said that his group has forwarded a copy of the original television interview footage to the ICC.
In the same network, Duterte made a threat against Rep. France Castro (ACT-Partylist) on October 10, suggesting that she is the "first target" in the now-terminated confidential budget of the Office of the Vice President.
Several parties of the House of Representatives took offense at these remarks and the tirades of Duterte against Speaker Martin Romualdez, saying that he had sabotaged her daughter's request for the funds.
“Rather than making sweeping allegations in the media, we advise the former president, if he has tangible evidence of wrongdoing, to present it to the appropriate authorities,” the House parties said. — with reports from Cristina Chi
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