Excel 'dead list' ranking Duterte drug war targets bared at ICC

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MANILA, Philippines — Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court showed judges a spreadsheet they said was central to former President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war — an Excel file that listed supposed drug personalities by name, sorted them by region, and ranked them on a five-tier scale that determined which "target" is "high value." 

ICC Senior Trial Lawyer Edward Jeremy introduced the so-called "PRRD List" — named after the initials of Duterte — on Tuesday, February 24, the second day of the confirmation of charges hearing against the former president.

Prosecutors presented parts of the spreadsheet as a key piece of evidence under Count 2 of the charges. This covered the alleged murder of 14 individuals tagged as "high-value targets" from 2016 to 2017 during Duterte's presidency.

The sheet, organized across multiple tabs, assigned targets to specific regions: Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, and CALABARZON, among others. 

Each tab, according to the ICC prosecution, contained photos and names of individuals designated as high-value targets. A separate tab classified them into five levels — from Level 1, which covered street-level pushers and barangay kagawad, up to Level 5, reserved for wholesalers, financiers, and high-ranking Philippine National Police and Armed Forces of the Philippines officials.

The confirmation of charges hearing, which opened on Monday, will run until February 27, with a break on Wednesday. The four-day proceeding is not a trial but a pre-trial phase where judges will determine whether there is sufficient evidence to establish "substantial grounds to believe" that Duterte committed the crimes charged.

Duterte faces three counts of crimes against humanity — covering murders linked to the Davao Death Squad during his time as mayor (Count 1), the killing of high-value targets during his presidency (Count 2), and murders during barangay clearance operations (Count 3). 

The charges cover at least 76 murders and two attempted murders. This number is not the total number of alleged deaths during Duterte's drug war but is instead the number of incidents in which ICC prosecutors have chosen to include in the case.

Dead list

An insider witness quoted by the prosecution describe the purpose of the PRRD List as the following: "This list was used by the police in their operations and if you were in the list, you will be the subject of police operations. Most of the time the people on the list were killed."

"The PRRD list is a dead list," Jeremy said.

Rewards were paid when targets on the list were killed, Jeremy said, and these payments did not come from the regular PNP budget. They were provided by Duterte himself, who also publicly offered bounties for killings. The covert reward system ranged from P50,000 to P1 million, depending on the target's assigned level.

Duterte paraded the list on multiple occasions, Jeremy said. During a televised speech on February 2, 2017, Duterte held up the document and declared: "This is the drug industry of the Philippines."

That, Jeremy said, was proof that Duterte had directly and publicly assured the military and the police of protection for committing extrajudicial killings.

From Davao to a national campaign

Jeremy told the chamber that Duterte campaigned for the presidency on a promise to replicate the "Davao model" of killing on a national scale, and that this was exactly what he achieved.

The Davao model, according to the prosecution, included payments for killings and used the same perpetrators and methods that had been deployed in Davao City. 

Upon assuming the presidency, Duterte appointed his co-perpetrators to key positions in the police and government, giving them authority over thousands, including the national network used to carry out the killings, Jeremy said.

Central to this plan was the command memorandum circular 16-2016, which outlined Oplan Double Barrel — a two-pronged approach that combined "Tokhang" operations at the barangay level with "Project HVT," which targeted high-value individuals.

Jeremy drew the chamber's attention to the memorandum's use of the word "neutralization." While the term may seem open to interpretation, Jeremy said, insider witnesses told the prosecution that within Philippine law enforcement, "to neutralize means to kill."

One of the incidents that the ICC prosecution zeroed in is the killing of former Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa — one of the incidents included in Count 2.

Jeremy said Duterte, upon assuming the presidency, expressed frustrations with mayors he believed were benefiting from the drug trade. Espinosa was allegedly told to surrender to then-PNP Chief Bato dela Rosa.

On November 5, 2016, Espinosa was killed in detention. The PNP claimed Espinosa died in a shootout with cellmate Raul Yap, but Jeremy told the chamber both men were murdered in their cells by state agents.

Both Espinosa and Yap appeared on the PRRD list shown by the ICC prosecution. Espinosa was at Level 4, Yap tagged at Level 3. Both were labeled to be "neutralized" in the spreadsheet presented.

Duterte's own words

Jeremy cited Duterte's public statements as evidence of intent.

The prosecution played a clip in which Duterte declares: "I am the sole person responsible."

Just as he did in Davao, Jeremy said, Duterte publicly named persons he claimed were involved in drugs — many of whom ended up as victims of his war on drugs. At a televised press conference in Davao City, Duterte identified 150 public officials allegedly involved in drugs, naming Espinosa and Ozamiz City Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog.

"Wherever you go, I will be waiting for you, even if I am no longer president, as long as I have a gun," Jeremy quoted Duterte as saying.

"Mr. Duterte did not have to wait long," Jeremy said. "Mayor Espinosa was murdered… then Parojinog, together with many others, was also murdered."

In one of the hearing's most striking moments, Jeremy drew attention to a video clip showing Duterte drawing a finger across his throat while touting extrajudicial killings.

"In case anyone watching this speech has any doubts about his intentions, Mr. Duterte goes on to comment on extrajudicial killings. Your Honors will note the nonchalant, casual manner in which he draws a finger across his throat," Jeremy said.

In the clip, Duterte said: "Wala ako maipagyabang… kaya dadaan ko na lang sa extrajudicial killing" (I have nothing to brag about… so I'll just resort to extrajudicial killing).

"And in this opulent room, the officials laugh as the president boasts about his skills in extrajudicial killings," Jeremy said. "Outside, on the streets of the Philippines, the bodies pile up."

Evidence from one dataset showed that as of the date of that speech — January 9, 2017 — almost 1,500 people had already been killed in Duterte's war on drugs, according to the prosecution.