Duterte at ‘very heart’ of murderous drug crackdowns in Philippines, ICC told

Ex-president, accused of crimes against humanity, selected targets and promised immunity for death squad members, prosecutor says

Rodrigo Duterte, the former president of the Philippines, was “at the very heart” of brutal anti-drugs campaigns that led to the killing of thousands of people, prosecutors at the International criminal court (ICC) have argued, as they called for charges against him to proceed to trial.

Duterte, 80, who was arrested in Manila last year and flown to The Hague, is facing three counts of crimes against humanity over campaigns against drug users and dealers during his presidency, and his earlier tenure as mayor of the city of Davao.

Duterte has denied charges against him, but did not attend Monday’s pre-trial hearing. He announced last week that he would not appear, as he was “old, tired and frail” and experiencing memory loss. The families of victims condemned his failure to appear before the court, accusing him of cowardice.

Duterte, who was president from 2016 until 2022, is charged with 49 incidents involving 78 victims of murder and attempted murder, though ICC deputy prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang said these were “merely a fraction of the overall criminality” that resulted from the “war on drugs”.

Niang alleged that Duterte was “at the very heart” of a plan to “neutralise alleged criminals, including through murder”. After becoming mayor of Davao in 1988, Duterte formed an infamous group known as the Davao Death Squad (DDS), “to kill criminals, and suspected criminals”, Niang said. As president, Duterte expanded this through a national network “consisting of law enforcement personnel, working together with non-police assets and hit men,”, Niang told the court.

The prosecutor accused Duterte of wielding “ultimate influence and authority” over the perpetrators of drug crackdowns, of authorising murder, selecting some of the targets, promising immunity, and giving financial support to perpetrators.

While mayor of Davao, Duterte’s office provided some members of the DDS with a regular salary, Niang alleged, adding that rewards were also given “in the form of cash per head for killing”.

Some killed out of fear, while others were encouraged by promises of money or “a perverse form of competition” to attain killing quotas and gain promotions and rewards, the prosecutor said.

Niang quoted from several of Duterte’s speeches that appeared to incite or confess to violence, including a 2016 speech in which Duterte said he used to ride around Davao on a motorcycle “looking for trouble” so that he could kill. “I used to do it personally just to show to the guys that if I can do it, why can’t you,” he quoted Duterte as saying.

Separately, Duterte was quoted as saying in a television interview: “If I become president, you will all get wiped out. I will order your execution within 24 hours.”

The pre-trial hearing is for prosecutors to set out their case so judges can decide whether there are substantial grounds to believe Duterte committed the alleged charges, and therefore to move the case to trial. The hearing will conclude on Friday, and a written decision will be issued within 60 days.

The Duterte Panagutin Campaign Network, which has advocated for victims of the drug crackdowns, called Monday’s pre-trial hearing “a historic step in the long search for justice and accountability”.

Between 12,000 and 30,000 civilians were killed in connection with drug operations, according to past estimates cited by the ICC prosecutor. Many were men in poor, urban areas who were shot dead in the streets or in their homes.

Victims and their advocates, gathered in the Philippines to watch live screenings of the hearings, while some travelled to The Hague. Duterte’s supporters also rallied at the court to express their backing for the former leader.

Duterte’s defence lawyer Nicholas Kaufman, said his client was a “unique phenomenon” who was full of “hyperbole, bluster and rhetoric”, but said he should not be judged based on his “coarse attitude or his vulgar language”.

He accused the prosecution of cherrypicking speeches by the former leader, and ignoring occasions where Duterte had “tempered his bombastic language” and referred “to the principle of lawful self-defence”.

He also rejected claims that Duterte’s drugs crackdowns were a “war on the poor”, saying Duterte’s policies had helped the poorest, and describing Duterte as a man who lived a frugal existence. As president, his diet consisted “not of prime cuts of imported Australian beef, but of dried fish and boiled rice”, adding that he slept in the “spartan quarters of his bodyguard’s hut”.

Kaufman said Duterte had been targeted by political enemies, and hit out at NGOs, human rights activists and media who he accused of lacking objectivity. Duterte had made Davao a safer place, he said, citing his electoral successes in the city.

Even as Duterte’s policies drew international outrage grew, he remained popular domestically. His daughter, the vice-president, Sara Duterte, announced last week that she would run for the presidency in the country’s 2028 election, with polling suggesting she would be a strong contender.

Joel Butuyan, who addressed the court as a legal representative of victims, said families who have spoken out “live in constant fear”.

Calling for the case to proceed to trial, he challenged defence claims that Duterte’s violent speeches should not be taken literally. “If he were merely being pompous and flippant, the people who were killed should be alive and laughing today at his supposed pranks,” he said.

Sarah Celiz, 61, whose two sons Almon and Dicklie were killed in separate incidents in 2017, called on Duterte to attend the hearings this week.

“He never showed us any mercy,” said Celiz, who for years has campaigned for Duterte to be tried. “My son begged for mercy, but he showed none. So why should we show him mercy?”