THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COUrt (ICC) would not be swayed by any of the antics and claims of a lack of due process from ex-President Rodrigo R. Duterte and his legal team as he stands trial for crimes against humanity over his deadly war on drugs, political and diplomacy analysts said at the weekend.
“The judges did not entertain political rhetoric, nor did they allow it to derail the proceedings,” Josalee S. Deinla, secretary general of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL), said in a Viber message.
“The way the ICC panel handled Former Executive Secretary Salvador B. Medialdea’s assertions suggests that the ICC is determined to cut through the noise and focus on the core issues of accountability and justice while adhering strictly to its established rules and processes.”
Mr. Duterte, 79, appeared before the Hague-based tribunal via video link on March 14 where judges informed him about his criminal charges. His trial was set for Sept. 23.
At the pre-trial hearing, Former Executive Secretary and Duterte lawyer Salvador B. Medialdea accused the Philippine government and ICC of colluding to kidnap the former President and failing to give him due process.
“Two days ago, the whole world witnessed the degrading fashion in which a former president of a sovereign country was bundled into a private aircraft and summarily transported to The Hague,” he said during the livestreamed hearing.
Ms. Deinla said the former executive secretary was only trying to preach to Duterte’s support base rather than to make a compelling case before the international tribunal.
The tribunal junked the former executive secretary’s plea to defer the tough-talking leader’s first court appearance so he could meet with his client to prepare.
ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I Presiding Judge Antoanella Motoc denied the plea since the appearance does not need “much preparation.”
“The ICC will account for the defense, sure, but it has its own institutional processes and those cannot be swayed by the antics of the accused,” said Hansley A. Juliano, who teaches international relations at the Ateneo de Manila University.
In a statement on March 14, Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary Clarissa A. Castro said Mr. Duterte was assured his basic rights as a suspect before the ICC as “justice starts to roll down” before the international community.
“The judges should chastise Mr. Medialdea for insinuating that the ICC had colluded with President Ferdinand R. Marcos in arresting Mr. Duterte, describing the ICC as a troubled legal institution desperate for a legal show,” Terry L. Ridon, a former lawmaker and convenor of think tank InfraWatch PH, said in a Facebook Messenger chat.
“The prospect for the former President is grim, with the next hearing scheduled in six months, and verdicts being issued no less than four years from an ICC suspect’s arrest,” he added.
Mr. Marcos earlier said his government was just doing its job in carrying out the ICC arrest warrant, adding that it was not personal.
The ICC Office of the Prosecutor last week said Mr. Duterte’s arrest was within its jurisdiction since the crimes happened when Manila was still a member of the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the ICC.
The war on drugs was Mr. Duterte’s signature campaign policy that swept him to power in 2016 as a maverick, crime-busting mayor who delivered on promises he made during vitriolic speeches to kill thousands of drug pushers.
He could become the first former Asian head of state to go on trial at the ICC.
“This will be a long legal proceeding, but I say to you, I will continue to serve my country,” Mr. Duterte said in a video message posted on his Facebook account on March 13, while assuring his supporters that he was well. “And so be it, if that is my destiny.”
During his six years in office, 6,200 suspects were killed during anti-drug operations, by the police’s count. Human rights groups say the deaths could be as many as 30,000.
“It will seem that the only hope for Mr. Duterte to see the Philippines again is for him to live long enough to see himself acquitted by the court,” Mr. Ridon said.
The firebrand leader made the crackdown on the illegal drug trade a key plank of his election campaign, promising to kill 100,000 criminals in his first six months in office and throw so many bodies in Manila Bay that the fish there would “grow fat.”
“This case is crucial for global accountability, reinforcing that no head of state — past or present — is above the law,” Ms. Deinla said.
Meanwhile, officials involved in the previous administration’s deadly drug war are likely to continue to be shunned by the international community if they seek asylum overseas amid the ICC’s crackdown on the deadly campaign, according to Karapatan, a human rights group.
This comes after the application in Canada for a permanent resident status of a former policeman assigned to Drug Enforcement Unit of the Jose Abad Santos Police Station in Manila was rejected by Ottawa’s immigration body.
“The world is getting smaller for police officers known to have been involved in the Duterte regime’s bloody war on drugs,” the group said in a statement on Sunday.
“The rejection by Canada of the permanent residence application of a former implementer of the drug war is indicative of the widespread international contempt for, and condemnation of Duterte’s drug war,” it added.
The Filipino cop moved to Canada 2021 before applying for permanent resident status in 2023. A Canadian federal court denied his application on Jan. 7, according to the human rights group.
“Rodrigo Duterte’s subsequent arrest for crimes against humanity now has his subalterns who blindly followed his ‘kill, kill, kill’ orders scrambling for places to hide,” Karapatan said. — John Victor D. Ordoñez
