The main character and three of the supporting cast in the ICC trial of Duterte’s deadly war on drugs.
The looming issuance of arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for former president Rodrigo Duterte and his accomplices in his deadly war on drugs is expected to impact tremendously in the 2025 midterm and the 2028 presidential elections.
Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who was the first to bring Duterte’s crimes to the ICC way back in 2017, said the warrants of arrest could be served later this month or early July.
He said, according to his sources privy to the workings of the ICC, the serving of the arrest warrants will be done by batch. The former president will be the first one to be served.
The second batch would most likely include Vice President Sara Duterte and Sens. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa and Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go.
The third batch would likely be the police officials who led in the implementation of Duterte’s war on drugs that claimed the lives of some 30,000. (Government figures put those who were killed during police operations at 6,000.)
There were rumors last year about a possible cooperation of former PNP chief Oscar Albayalde with the ICC, but it turned out to be false.
Duterte and those involved in the war on drugs are subject of an investigation for crimes against humanity in the Philippines covering the period from Nov. 1, 2011 (when he was Davao City mayor) to March 16, 2019 (when the Philippines withdrew from the ICC).
Trillanes said the ICC investigators have completed their collection of evidence and are now set to issue warrants of arrest to ensure the participation of the accused in the trial.
Duterte has said several times that he will not submit to the ICC’s jurisdiction, ignorantly describing the international court as composed of “white people.”
His strategy for evading the inevitable serving of an arrest warrant has become pathetic, even laughable. In the beginning, he tried to be useful to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., with his loyalists Bong Go and Sen. Alan Cayetano suggesting that he be appointed special envoy to China, given his closeness to Chinese President Xi Jinping.
When that didn’t work, he resorted to putting pressure on Marcos using the objectionable Charter change issue. The public knows better. Charter change is a legitimate issue but Duterte, having advocated that previously, is not a credible rallying figure. This is best shown by the dwindling attendance in his rallies. Also, the prospect of having Sara Duterte — with her unexplained P125 million confidential fund and dismal performance as Education secretary — as president if Marcos is toppled before 2028 scares concerned citizens.
Dela Rosa is doing his own thing with his senseless investigation of the leak by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency of the president’s alleged drug use as exposed by Duterte.
In what is seen by many as a distraction to Duterte’s accountability in the bloody drug war, his son, Paolo, who is Davao City representative, has filed a resolution seeking a congressional investigation into the alleged extrajudicial killings in the country for the last 25 years.
Marcos has, so far, dangled the ICC sword, effectively confusing not only Duterte and his allies but also the public. The question on everybody’s mind: Will Marcos allow the arrest of Duterte and his accomplices by the ICC?
Trillanes said that scenario might not happen because he believes Duterte will flee to China for sanctuary. Remember, in August last year Duterte met with Xi in Beijing when he thought a warrant of arrest would be issued with the decision of the ICC to reject the Philippine government’s appeal to stop the investigation.
How about Sara? And Dela Rosa and Go, who are due for reelection in the 2025 elections?
Will the arrest, if it happens, gain them sympathy or lead to their political oblivion?
Former president Rodrigo Duterte with daughter Vice President Sara and Sen. Bong Go in a 2019 photo when they attended the enthronement of Japanese Emperor Naruhito. Malacañang photo
Aside from former president Rodrigo Duterte, Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio and two incumbent senators were named in documents submitted to the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigating the killings related to the drug war during the previous administration and when Duterte was mayor of Davao City, a copy of the documents obtained by VERA Files shows.
The vice president’s name was mentioned as knowing and approving the killings when she was city mayor, a post that her father held for more than 20 years. Sara was mayor from 2010 to 2013, and from 2016 to 2022.
A person knowledgeable of the ICC probe said she could be issued a “summons” by the ICC. If she would not comply with the summons, she would be issued a warrant of arrest.
This is the first time the name of Sara was mentioned in the documents relevant to the ICC investigation.
VERA Files sent messages to the OVP, her spokesperson and media officer for her side, but got only an automated reply from the OVP acknowledging receipt of the email and that it has been forwarded to the concerned unit for appropriate action. Her spokesperson also acknowledged VERA Files’ request sent by text.
On July 18, 7:51 p.m. Sara’s information officer Jefrey Tupas sent a text message: “No comment.”
Bong Go
Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, the former president’s longtime aide, was mentioned at least 70 times and Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, at least 90 times in a 186-page affidavit by a person who had knowledge of Duterte’s bloody style of governance but had asked not to be identified.
Once included in the investigation, Dela Rosa and Go could be issued warrants of arrest by the ICC.
Several other names were mentioned in the documents that covered at least 100 killings that happened mostly in Davao City when Rodrigo was mayor.
The probe on the killings related to the Duterte administration’s bloody war on drugs continues after the the ICC on July 18 rejected the Philippine government’s appeal to stop the investigation.
According to the documents with the ICC, during the years when Go served as executive assistant and personal aide to then-Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte, he, on several instances, was the one who relayed the former’s orders to kill to the Davao Death Squad, which was allegedly carrying out the extrajudicial killings for the local chief executive.
Some of the kill orders were unrelated to the anti-illegal drug campaign. Rodrigo served as Davao City mayor for 22 years, from 1988 to 2016, broken only by years when he held other elective positions (1998-2001, member of the House of Representatives and 2010-2013, vice mayor).
The documents also contained a report of two separate killings, which were allegedly ordered by Go, and “cleared and approved by Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte.” One was the murder of Primo Nilles, driver of businessman Jon Gaisano, whose wife Ana Nilles was one of the suspects in a cash pilferage in Gaisano’s business establishment. The other was the killing of second-hand truck importer Christopher Yu sometime in 2013 or 2014.
Go held a powerful position during the Duterte presidency as gatekeeper for the chief executive. Even when he was elected senator in 2019, he was always seen in almost all the activities of the president.
VERA Files tried to get the side of Go by email and text but has not received any reply as of July 17. Former president Rodrigo Duterte in an April 2019 photo campaigning for Bato Dela Rosa and Bong Go who were running for seats in the Senate.Malacañang photo
‘Bato’ Dela Rosa
Dela Rosa was Davao City police chief from 2012 to 2013 under then-mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, who is now vice president. He previously held other positions such as station commander and intelligence division chief under the Davao City Police Office from 1992 to 1997, when the elder Duterte was the city mayor.
In the documents, it was alleged that Dela Rosa formed his own death squad to carry out anti-illegal drug operations in Davao.
As chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), he presided over Duterte’s bloody war on drugs from 2016 up to 2018, which saw the killings of some 30,000, according to the estimates by human rights groups. Police admit to some 6,000 killed in drug war operations.
VERA Files also tried to get the side of Dela Rosa but has not received a reply as of July 17.
Dela Rosa had said that he was not afraid of the ICC investigation as the Netherlands-based court no longer has jurisdiction on the Philippines. However, the police chief-turned-senator admitted avoiding traveling to countries he perceives to be “loyal” to the ICC to evade potentially getting arrested should the court issue a warrant for him.
“Hindi ako takot. Alam ko naman na walang mangyayari diyan kung hindi lang ako lalabas sa ating bansa … just in case pupunta ako sa ibang bansa at huhulihin ako doon, nandiyan na si Sen. [Francis] Tolentino to the rescue para mag-represent sa akin sa kahaharapin ko,” Dela Rosa said last March
[I’m not afraid. I know that nothing would happen as long as I don’t go outside the country … just in case I go to another country and I will be arrested there, Sen. [Francis] Tolentino will be there to rescue and represent me.]
Senators Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa and Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go during a hearing by the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources Development on January 28, 2020. Senate photo by Alex Nueva España
Although it lacks police power, the ICC relies on its 123 member states to cooperate in enforcing its arrest warrants. It can also seek the help of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) by issuing a request to its 195 member countries, including the Philippines, to arrest a wanted individual. Still, it is entirely subject to Philippine discretion to implement an Interpol request.
ICC approval of investigation
In September 2021, the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I granted the request of former prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to launch a full-blown probe into the alleged crimes against humanity in the Duterte administration’s drug war from July 2016 to March 16, 2019. It also allowed the probe to cover the alleged killings and related crimes in the Davao region from November 2011 to June 2016 by the “Davao Death Squad.”
The Pre-Trial Chamber is a judicial body in the ICC that permits the court’s prosecutor to conduct or resume an investigation. It also issues arrest warrants or summonses to those wanted of crimes against humanity, war crimes and other international crimes.
In her 57-page investigation request, Bensouda named Duterte for ordering the implementation of the drug war and publicly expressing support for the killing of suspected drug personalities.
She said other officials who used a similar rhetoric include Justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II who once said that “the criminals, the drug lords, drug pushers, they are not humanity”. Aguirre denied that he ever said drug lords “are not humans.”
Duterte’s first two PNP chiefs — Dela Rosa and Ronald Albayalde — were also named for implementing Duterte’s drug war. Bensouda said Albayalde, who replaced Dela Rosa in April 2018, publicly declared his commitment to continue Dela Rosa’s drug war upon assuming the top PNP post.
Bensouda made the investigation request to the Pre-Trial chamber a month before her term ended on June 15, 2021, with British lawyer Karim Khan succeeding her. Her launching of a preliminary examination into the drug war killings in February 2018 was followed by Duterte’s order to withdraw the Philippines as an ICC member, which took effect on March 16, 2019.
Duterte has consistently questioned the jurisdiction of the ICC to investigate him.
PH government appeal
In its appeal to reverse the decision of the Pre-Trial Chamber allowing Bensouda’s successor Khan to resume the drug war investigation on Jan. 26, the government insisted on the ICC’s lack of jurisdiction over the Philippines because it has ceased being a member since March 17, 2018.
Invoking the principle of complementarity where the ICC may exercise jurisdiction only when domestic legal systems fail to do so, or a state is unwilling or unable to genuinely carry out proceedings, the government cited a few cases that have found guilty policemen who were involved in extrajudicial killings in drug operations such as in the murder of 17-year old Kian de los Santos in 2017.
However, the Appeals Chamber, which hears appeals on decisions on jurisdiction or admissibility, was not impressed saying the Philippine courts “only address the physical, low-ranking perpetrators and at present do not extend to any high-ranking officials.”
Reacting to the rejection by the ICC of the government’s appeal,President Marcos reiterated his government’s position not to cooperate in the ICC probe.
Dutch ambassador gives ashes to son of the victim. Photo by Vincent Go.
“I think he is into drugs.”
Fr. Flavie Villanueva was referring to Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, who suggested on May 23 that former president Rodrigo Duterte be named as anti-drug czar. Duterte’s presidency was notorious for the brutal drug war that killed more than 20,000 (official police figure is more than 6,000) persons.
Thankfully, Duterte shot down immediately his former aide-turned-senator’s idea, saying that it is President Marcos Jr.’s call now and he should be given “the greatest elbow room, leeway to do his job.”
Fr. Flavie does not buy the line that the Duterte administration’s murderous war against illegal drugs is much more effective than the current government’s strategy, given the recent expose of police involvement in illegal drug trafficking. “Ang mga nahuhuli nila noon ay mga nasa laylayan. Ang mga nahuhuli nila ngayon ay malalaking isda.”
(The ones they caught before were those in the low fringes of society. The ones caught now are the big fishes.)
Fr. Flavie knows the heavy toll of Duterte’s “kill, kill, kill” formula, having taken care of hundreds of orphans, widows and widowers left behind by the victims of those bloody operations.
At the time of the interview, Fr. Flavie was officiating the blessing and turnover of urns to the families of six victims at the Sacred Heart of Parish Shrine in Quezon City. The event was part of Program Paghilum (Healing), which helps widows and orphans of EJK victims in rebuilding and re-creating their lives.
Fr. Flavie blesses the urns containing the ashes of the EJK victims. Members of the victims’ families join him in prayers. Photo by Vincent Go.
Under “Project Arise,” the remains of the victims of extra-judicial killings, which are buried in apartment-tombs that are for lease for a limited period, are exhumed. Scientific autopsy is conducted as part of the families’ search for truth and justice.
The remains are then cremated, put into urns and turned over to the families. Later, the remains are laid to a permanent and dignified resting place.
The six victims remembered and blessed last March 23 were Jaime Alcover, 25; Henerciso Amper,50; Erwin Garzon, 37; Florencio Tion, 60; Jampol Barros, 26; and Pablo Cabangon, 46.
Each of those urns contains stories of pain and anguish that Program Paghilum is helping the survivors in turning them into testaments of faith and courage.
Normie Alcober, sister of the victim, remembers the midnight of Oct. 05, 2017 when they were awakened by the loud banging on their door in their house in Tondo. When they opened the door, they were confronted by armed men who ordered her and her children out of the house. Inside the house were Jaime, who was still asleep, her father, her uncle and cousins.
After a few hours, the intruders brought out two dead bodies wrapped in blankets and dumped them in the compartment of a waiting vehicle. The two bodies were those of Jaime and her uncle. Her father was jailed and was not allowed to visit Jaime’s wake.
Henerciso Amper’s partner, Nancy Imbat, said that on July 23, 2018 he told her he was going to the market to buy food. He never came back.
Nancy learned that while Henerciso was buying food someone approached him and shot him to death. This happened in Camarin, Caloocan City.
On Sept. 14, 2016, two unidentified masked men barged into the home of Erwin Garzon in Bagong Silang, also in Caloocan City, and shot him on the head. He died instantly.
His death certificate states he died of pneumonia.
Marie Tion said that on the evening of July 29, 2018, she knew her husband Florencio was having a drink with his kumpare. After a while, a neighbor told her that Florencio was shot. She brought him to the hospital where he died 20 days later.
Medarda Barros said that on March 7, 2018, her son Jampol stepped out of their house in Camarin, Caloocan City. Then she heard shots. When she went out looking for her son, she saw him lying on the ground, face down, soaked in his own blood.
Witnesses said Jampol was just sitting when two men on a motorcycle came, shot him and sped away.
Pablo Cabangon from Bagong Silangan, Quezon City was killed on December 02, 2016 and is believed to be a victim of a deplorable police practice of palit-ulo ( head exchange).
Pablo’s daughter, Princess, said the police went to someone in their community who pleaded for his life and offered to lead them to another person, who turned out to be her father.
The police barged into their home and shot Pablo on the head. They also shot her brother who luckily managed to escape.
Dutch Ambassador Marielle Geraedts, who witnessed the turnover of the remains, said she was “in awe and perplexed by the massive disruption and impact the war on drugs has had on the lives of the families.”
At the same time, she said she saw hope and inspiration from the courage of the families of the victims: “Truly, the fight for accountability and justice may be a long one, but it is one that you have all chosen to take on.”
She then shared: “For the Netherlands, we do not only believe that human rights are the cornerstone of democracy and peace, but also that lasting peace must be based on justice. There can be no justice without accountability. We believe in the value of rule of law and accountability. There must be a focus on inclusive involvement and a voice for victims at all stages of the accountability process: documentation, evidence gathering, prosecution, sentencing and redress.”
She expressed admiration for the work Fr. Flavie was doing: “You have created a caring community that gives hope amidst uncertainty and fear. And for that, we thank you for your service and leadership.”
Speaking to an eight-year-old son of one of the victims who was hugging tightly the urn containing his father’s ashes, Fr. Flavie said: “Huwag ka nang umiyak. May paglalagyan na sa kanya. Wala na diyan si Tatay. Malaya na siya ngayon sa langit.” (Don’t cry. Your father is not there anymore. He is now in heaven where he is free.)
Several times, President Rodrigo Duterte has proudly taken responsibility for the killings in his bloody campaign against illegal drugs. It goes without saying, therefore, that the prosecution of the drug-related killings would have to reach his level.
If he thinks that citing “national security” will save him and the top officials who implemented his war on drugs, including his first police chief, now Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, from being accountable for all those killings, he is wrong.
The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) already used that line in the 2018 case of Aileen Almora, et al. Vs. Director General Ronald Dela Rosa, et al./Sr. Ma. Juanita R. Daño, et al. Vs. The Philippine National Police, et al. and the Supreme Court vehemently rejected it.
The Supreme Court’s words: “It is simply ridiculous to claim that these information and documents on police operations against drug pushers and users involve national security matter.”
In his Talk to the People last May 31, Duterte lengthily defended the Philippine National Police in refusing to make public records of police operations in the war on drugs.
He said: “Now this is really a lesson for the human rights; everyday until now nandiyan ‘yan. I suggest that you go to the police and look into the records of these deaths. Now gusto ninyong kunin, may — hindi namin maibigay lahat not because we are hiding some facts that [are] known to us, unknown to you. Eh kasali na dito ‘yong — eh national security issue ‘to eh kagaya rin ng mga NPA. We have records that those who have died but who have derogatory records in our files and may mga references sila na tao and what they do, we cannot divulge it to anybody but only to the military and to the police.”
He said he himself has not asked for it. “I do not even know kung sino ‘yang mga ‘yan. I do not ask [for] it and I do not bother to really go out of my way knowing because kasali ako sa mga tao na hindi alam. What I get is the result of the operations. But as to the basis and to the people involved and suspects and ‘yong mga references nila at ‘yong mga sources ng information, this cannot be revealed,” he added.
He further said: “As a matter of fact, ang sinabi ko itong mga pulis o military who perform their duties and had to kill their adversaries, lalo na sa droga pati itong mga NPA, hindi ho namin puwede ibigay lahat. You can go into the… maybe query as to how the battle was fought, how the gunfight started. But pero kung sabihin mo what prompted the police and the military to go into this kind of operation based on their reports and collated mga dossier, hindi ho ninyo puwedeng pakialaman ‘yan. Truth — as a matter of fact, sabihin ko totoo ‘yan. Maski tanungin ninyo, ni hindi ako minsan nagtanong kung ano-ano ‘yan.It’s because I know that it’s just confidential. And kung hindi nila ipresenta sa akin, I do not ask for it.
“Kaya ako mismo hindi naka — nakakakita ng mga records na ‘yan. And I can understand when the military and the police would withhold them kasi hindi talaga dapat malaman ninyo. Iyan ang na … you know … hindi dito sabihin mo na public documents. “
It is Duterte’s choice if he is not interested to see the documentation of the killings based on his orders. But the public should not be prevented from knowing the truth.
The Supreme Court was very clear about this when the OSG refused to submit documents demanded by the relatives of the victims which include, among others, list of persons killed in legitimate police operations from July 1, 2016 to Nov. 30, 2018; list of deaths under investigation from July 1, 2016 to November 30, 2017; list of Chinese and Fil-Chinese drug lords who have been neutralized; and, list of drugs involved, whether shabu, cocaine, marijuana, or opioids.
The OSG unilaterally categorized the documents and claimed that those under Category 1 “contain very sensitive information with law enforcement and national security implications.”
The Supreme Court reprimanded the OSG, saying it “cannot unilaterally arrogate to itself the power to determine which documents it should furnish petitioners.”
The High Court also reminded the OSG of its earlier Resolution that “the requested information and documents do not obviously involve state secrets affecting national security.”
“The information and documents relate to routine police operations involving violations of laws against the sale or use of illegal drugs. There is no showing that the country’s territorial integrity, national sovereignty, independence, or foreign relations will be compromised or prejudiced by the release of these information and documents to this Court or even to the public. These information and documents do not involve rebellion, invasion, terrorism, espionage, infringement of our sovereignty or sovereign rights by foreign powers, or any military, diplomatic or state secret involving national security,“ it added.
The High Court declared: “It is simply ridiculous to claim that these information and documents on police operations against drug pushers and users involve national security matter.”
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra is very grateful and called it a “very significant milestone” because it “did not happen in previous years.”
This is no different from President Duterte thanking China for allowing Filipino fishermen to fish in the area of Scarborough Shoal, a Philippine territory. But that’s another topic that requires a separate discussion.
This so-called “very significant milestone” came after a meeting with newly installed PNP chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar who said this is being done to dispel allegations that they are hiding facts on the killings from the public to protect the law enforcers involved in carrying out Duterte’s brutal banner program that has elicited international concern and condemnation.
No one is biting the bait, especially the families of the victims and their lawyers.
Not Joel Butuyan of Centerlaw, which represents families of the victims of the drug war in 28 barangays in San Andres Bukid.
Butuyan said: “The fact that the PNP’s consent is required for the DOJ to investigate the deaths in the hands of policemen is in itself anomalous.”
“The DOJ is supposed to have unobstructed leeway to conduct investigations when deaths occur in the hands of policemen. In fact, under DOJ rules, when death occurs during a police investigation, the police are required to submit all relevant documents to the prosecutors and the prosecutors are mandated to conduct a preliminary investigation. So, all deaths in the hands of policemen should have been investigated by the DOJ, and the police should submit all documents, not just the 61 deaths in question,” he added.
The 61 cases constitute less than 1% of the more than 7,000 that the government uses as the number of deaths during police anti-illegal drugs operations. Human rights advocates say the numbers could be higher.
The 61 cases, Guevarra said, had been reviewed and evaluated by the PNP Internal Affairs Service which had found administrative/criminal liability on the part of law enforcement agents.
Edre Olalia, secretary general of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL)-Philippines that also represents several families of victims of Duterte’s drug war, is wary that “it might be another tokenistic and cynical mirage, a puny, even if sincere, desire at real institutional reforms that actually go far beyond them alone.”
He said victims, families and witnesses in the so-called drug war and rights advocates “cannot be euphoric at this supposed shift.”
“With grounded disbelief, they should see it for what it might be: a finger to plug the hole in the dam i.e. to deflect and dissipate overwhelming criticisms over the lack of immediate, fair and comprehensive accountability,” he said in a statement.
“That only 61 cases are currently seen with ‘clear liability’ out of the thousands of cases that are supposedly within the purview of the drug war panel review is simply incredible and scanty when seen in the context of the records, experience and reality over time,” he noted.
“The disclosure of the records, given the inordinate delay, the hemming and hedging, the issues of transparency, impartiality and independence, and the insultingly petty number to be made available, may even eventually validate the view that it may have been sanitized and cherry picked to be used as possible ‘showcases,’ inconclusive or not emblematic as they may turn out to be,” Olalia said.
The international Human Rights Watch describes the PNP-DOJ collaboration as “a breakthrough” while noting that Metro Manila police chief Eleazar was a key enforcer of Duterte’s drug war.
With only five months before his retirement, HRW said: “If Eleazar is serious about these reforms, he should ensure the police’s full cooperation with investigators into the ‘drug war’ killings and take more concrete steps to hold abusive officers accountable.”
Families of drug-war related extra-judicial killings had long ago demanded access to police records of the operation but were denied despite repeated orders from the Supreme Court.
Finally in May 2019, the PNP and the Office of the Solicitor General submitted to the High Court 289 compact discs supposedly containing information on the 20,322 drug-related deaths as mentioned in the government’s 2017 Accomplishment Report.
But the documents turned out to be “rubbish,” CenterLaw said, as discs contained irrelevant non-drug related cases like a “love triangle” in which the suspect was the live-in partner who got jealous of the deceased victim and a killing caused by a misunderstanding over a videoke song.
CenterLaw accused the PNP and OSG of resorting to “underhanded machinations.”
“What the OSG and PNP virtually want is for the Supreme Court and the petitioners to utterly waste valuable time and resources examining case files which are totally irrelevant and, in fact, absolutely rubbish insofar as the instant cases are concerned,” it said.
The timing of this PNP-DOJ cooperation makes us suspicious that it is more for the consumption of the International Criminal Court (ICC) that is expected to release its decision on the result of the preliminary examination of the situation in the Philippines before Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda retires on June 15.
The ICC, in its website, states: “Specifically, it has been alleged that since 1 July 2016, thousands of persons have been killed for reasons related to their alleged involvement in illegal drug use or dealing. While some of such killings have reportedly occurred in the context of clashes between or within gangs, it is alleged that many of the reported incidents involved extra-judicial killings in the course of police anti-drug operations.”
Once the ICC decides to open an investigation, investigators would start collecting evidence. Summons would be issued. Refusal to cooperate could lead to issuance of warrants of arrest and freezing of assets.
The Rome Statute that created the ICC provides that it is the duty of every state to exercise its jurisdiction over those responsible for committing international crimes. The ICC can intervene only when it sees that the government is “unable or unwilling” to “genuinely” carry out the investigation and prosecution of the perpetrators.
Guevarra, addressing the United Nations Human Rights Council last Feb. 24 said: ”We reject any attempt by any external entity to assume jurisdiction over internal matters which are being addressed more than adequately by our national institutions and authorities.”
Does access to records of 61 out of more than 7,000 cases enough to disprove the inability and unwillingness of the Duterte government to prosecute those involved in the killings of thousands upon the orders of President Rodrigo Duterte?
