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MANILA, Philippines — Former president Rodrigo Duterte personally drew up “death lists” and boasted about murders committed during his “war on drugs,” an International Criminal Court (ICI) prosecutor said yesterday.
On day two of the hearing on confirmation of charges against Duterte, ICC prosecutor Edward Jeremy laid out searing testimony, including allegations that children had their heads wrapped in packing tape and were strangled to death.
“As president, Duterte publicly named persons he alleged were involved in drugs, and many of those would end up as victims in his so-called war on drugs,” Jeremy said.
The “Duterte list” was “basically a death list,” Jeremy cited a witness as saying, showing a video of Duterte himself saying: “I am the sole person responsible for it all.”
Duterte faces three ICC counts of crimes against humanity, with prosecutors alleging his involvement in at least 76 murders between 2013 and 2018.
Prosecutors say this is a “mere fraction” of the thousands believed killed in his “war on drugs” as mayor of Davao City and then as president.
“As witnesses stated, the poor were often targeted, because they were the ones least likely to file complaints against the police,” said Jeremy.
Jeremy played a clip of Duterte joking about “extrajudicial killings” during a speech. “And in this opulent, gilded, presentation room, the officials laugh along with their president while he boasts about his skills in extrajudicial killing,” said Jeremy.
“And outside on the streets of the Philippines, the bodies pile up.”
Jeremy alleged that almost 1,500 people had already been killed at the time of this video.
The prosecutor said that on two occasions, children aged around 14 or 15 were taken into custody.
“On each occasion, the police wrapped the child’s head in packing tape. So no one could hear them scream. And then strangled the child to death with wire,” said Jeremy.
“It’s difficult to imagine a more terrifying end to two lives that had barely even begun. And these murdered children were then sold to funeral homes.”
The week-long ICC proceedings are not a trial but a “confirmation of charges” hearing, enabling judges to weigh whether to move ahead with a trial.
Duterte, 80, is not in court after exercising his right not to appear.
His defense team says he is weak and in cognitive decline. The prosecution and victims counter that he is healthy but does not want to face the families of victims.
The court passed him fit to attend but granted his right to stay away.
Once the hearings wrap up Friday, the court will take up to 60 days to decide whether to proceed to a full trial, usually in a written judgement.
Duterte’s defense lawyer, Nicholas Kaufman, on Monday said his client “maintained his innocence absolutely.”
Kaufman argued that while Duterte used “bluster and hyperbole” in his speeches, he also frequently ordered authorities only to shoot in self-defense.
Public ‘kill’ statements
On the opening day of the hearings on confirmation of charges last Monday, selected statements made by the former president, including one during the 2016 presidential campaign, were presented by the ICC Office of the Prosecutor at the start of the presentation of merits.
“If I become the president, I will order the military and the police to hunt down the drug lord, the big ones, and kill them,” Duterte, speaking at a campaign rally, said in one of the videos presented before the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I.
“I do not covet the position. If I become president, you better hide. Those 1,000 (killings), it would reach 50,000. I would kill all [of] you,” he said in another – this one in a television interview.
Arguing against the defense’s position, Julian Nicholls, senior trial lawyer from the ICC Office of the Prosecutor, said the statements were far from being mere bluster.
He showed one interview where Duterte was asked about the number of people alleged killed. In Filipino, he said: “They say I killed 700? They undercounted… About 1,700.”
“No denial. Instead, he takes credit for a thousand more killings. That isn’t bluster. That’s not hyperbole. That’s the truth,” Nicholls told the judges.
The prosecution’s first day of presentation centered on the first count of the crimes against humanity charges, which involved killings by the so-called Davao death squad (DDS) when he was either mayor or vice mayor of Davao City.
Nicholls described how Duterte used the DDS to murder alleged criminals in his jurisdiction.
“After years, two decades of murdering alleged criminals as mayor of Davao, it became clear to him that this political strategy could be leveraged for higher office and for more power, the presidency. And that is exactly what he did,” said the prosecution lawyer.
“During his campaign to be president, Mr. Duterte expressly promised many times that he would kill criminals if elected… The murders skyrocketed in the months immediately after Mr. Duterte became president in June 2016. And that was no coincidence. That was him fulfilling his campaign pledge,” he added.
On-record statements made by Duterte, including during the hearings at the Senate and the House of Representatives prior to his arrest, were also presented by the prosecutor. These include his admission that planting evidence was “part of the strategy.”
Davao model
Nicholls reiterated the prosecution’s position that Duterte replicated the Davao model when his administration implemented his deadly campaign against illegal drugs.
He briefly mentioned some of Duterte’s alleged co-perpetrators when he was mayor, including former Davao City police chiefs Ronald dela Rosa and Vicente Davao, former National Bureau of Investigation regional director Dante Gierran, long-time aide Bong Go and lawyer Vitaliano Aguirre II.
Duterte appointed the said individuals to national posts when he became president. Dela Rosa and Go are now sitting senators.
“He moved the method and some of the co-perpetrators to Manila in order to expand it… The victims in this case ranged from powerful individuals to predominantly the poorest citizens of the Philippines,” the ICC prosecution lawyer said.
“Now why were the poor selected and victimized? Well, it was often because they were the most vulnerable and they didn’t have the families and the power to make police reports and they were the most afraid,” he added.
Nicholls said they acknowledge the “self-defense” remarks made by Duterte, describing these as empty utterances.
“The reality is that Mr. Duterte’s message was clear and it was understood by the perpetrators and it was followed. That message was, ‘commit murder at my direction and I will protect you. I will pay you. I will promote you.’ And that’s what happened,” said Nicholls.
“And I’ll say this as well, your honors. For purposes of this confirmation hearing, disregard every speech ever made by Mr. Duterte. Throw them all out. There is still ample evidence of substantial grounds based on the other evidence which we have put on our list,” he told the judges. – AFP
