Duterte faces a hostile court

Friday, March 14, at 9 p.m. Manila time, former president Rodrigo Roa Duterte was to appear for the first time before the Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court, at The Hague, the Netherlands. 

Once the Philippines’ most powerful president, Duterte faced his prosecutor and the all-woman three-person panel of judges who would confirm his identity and ensure he understands the charges. 

The three judges unanimously signed on March 7, 2025, Duterte’s arrest warrant, reasonably convinced of his crime, the crime against humanity (CAH).  Judges Lulia Antoanella Motoc of Romania, presiding; Reine Alapini-Gansou of Benin and Socorro Flores Liera of Mexico have solid legal credentials and are prominent human rights lawyers.

Pre-Trial, broadcast with 30-min delay, could take 60 days. However, the Trial stage could last years, even decades. Duterte is 80. Thus, zero is the possibility he will see the Philippines again, a free man.

Defense lawyers would have a difficult time convincing the three Pre-Trial judges he is not guilty. Duterte conducted the largest widespread and systematic peace-time extermination of civilians in Philippine history. 

Per ICC records, Duterte’s victims numbered from 12,000 to 30,000, during what the ICC calls the Relevant Period, from Nov. 1, 2011, when Duterte was Davao’s political kingpin, to March 16, 2019, two years and nine months into his violent presidency. When he was the Davao mayor, the killings were an organizational policy. When he was the president, the killings were a state policy, according to his arrest warrant.

“I did it for my country,” The Punisher says of the killings. But the world, under the Rome Statute, sees such killings as plain murders which, when done systematically, large-scale and are widespread against a civilian population constitute a crime against humanity. 

Under president Estrada, in 2000, the Philippines signed into the Rome Statute. The Rome Statute created the ICC in 1998, with 120 countries participating. ICC is a permanent autonomous institution, given jurisdiction to “investigate, prosecute and try” individuals accused of international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression.

The ICC relies on complementarity. It complements, not replaces, national criminal systems; it prosecutes cases only when States are unwilling or unable to do so genuinely.

Another principle is cooperation. The ICC does not have its own police force or enforcement body. It relies on cooperation with countries worldwide for support, particularly for making arrests, transferring arrested persons to the ICC detention center in The Hague, freezing suspects’ assets and enforcing sentences. This explains why the ICC sought Interpol’s help. Interpol in turn sought the help of the Philippine National Police to effect Duterte’s arrest on March 11.

To convict a suspect must face a pre-trial, Duterte’s stage now. Once the three judges of Chamber I are convinced Duterte committed the crime, he is deemed the accused and must face trial.

Moving into the Trial proper, before also three judges, the Prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt Duterte’s guilt. The judges consider all evidence, then issue a verdict and, when there is a verdict of guilt, issue a sentence – up to 30 years of imprisonment. Verdicts are subject to appeal by the Defense and by the Prosecutor. Judges can also order reparations for the victims.

At the trial, prosecutors need not prove all 12,000 or 30,000 killings. Duterte’s arrest warrant mentions just 43 killings in two categories: 19 alleged drug pushers or thieves, when Duterte was Davao mayor, and 24 alleged criminals – such as drug pushers and thieves – killed by the PNP and its non-police agents, in various places nationwide, during his presidency. To secure conviction prosecutors need only to convince the trial judges, beyond reasonable doubt, the killings were widespread and systematic and followed a pattern, against civilians.

Duterte’s arrest warrant itself notes of his “establishing the DDS and the National Network and controlling them, together with his co-perpetrators; instructing and supporting the city and nation-wide extrajudicial killings of alleged criminals; his public statements accepting responsibility for the killings committed pursuant to the State policy, supplying necessary equipment to implement the attacks; assuming responsibility for the attacks and promising the police officers and hitmen immunity from prosecution.”

“Taking into account the totality of the information before it, the Chamber finds reasonable grounds to believe that Mr. Duterte is individually responsible for the crime against humanity of murder … as an indirect co-perpetrator.”

Per ICC, Presiding Judge Motoc dealt with serious and complex cases including corruption and sexual violence, genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. “Motoc has extensive experience with the United Nations and various legal systems. She was a member and vice president of the UN Human Rights Committee examining the right to life, enforced disappearances and other massive violations of human rights.”

Alapini-Gansou “spent 12 years at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), as chair of the Commission (2009-2012) and as Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders in Africa (2005- 2009 and 2012 -2017). She has been a member of several United Nations commissions of inquiries on human rights violations, and chaired the joint working group on special procedures of the United Nations and the African Commission on human and people’s rights.”

Flores Liera was a distinguished Mexican diplomat, holding senior posts, including permanent representative of Mexico to the UN. She served as vice president of the Human Rights Council for the year 2020. “As a member of the Mexican delegation, Judge Flores Liera was closely involved in the process leading to the creation of the International Criminal Court since 1995, notably including the negotiations that led to the Rome Statute and to the adoption of the Elements of Crimes and Rules of Procedure and Evidence.”

Are these judges hostile to Duterte?  You be the judge. And I say, Noted.

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