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This undated AFP photo shows a slain drug suspect.
AFP / Noel Celis, File
MANILA, Philippines — Lawyers representing the victims of the bloody drug war have called out the defense team of former president Rodrigo Duterte for their proposal to require IDs or current Philippine passports as identification for those who will participate in the ongoing proceedings at the International Criminal Court.
Defense lawyer Nicholas Kaufman, in his April 7 filing, said the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I handling the proceedings should “insist on the production of a national identity card and/or a passport containing an up-to-date photograph.”
In the absence of such, he said the chamber should adopt a system limiting the documents that may be accepted to identify victims of the drug war.
In a statement sent to The STAR, ICC accredited counsel and CenterLaw Philippines chairperson Joel Butuyan described the observations filed by Kaufman as coming “from someone who obviously has no knowledge at all of the Philippine situation.”
“The kind of IDs being demanded by Mr. Kaufman are documents that are badges of wealth and privilege in the Philippines. They are unavailable to victims who wallow in poverty, and who constitute the overwhelming number of the people killed by his client,” said Butuyan.
Kaufman said limiting the range of accepted identity documents “enhances the reliability of the identity verification process and significantly reduces the risk of fraud.”
But for Butuyan, such a proposal fails to recognize that the victims “come from the poorest of the poor” who often do not have passports, driver’s licenses and other identity documents.
“The victims’ families have already lost loved ones. For them to be refused recognition as victims of the murderous Mr. Duterte, because of their lack of government-issued IDs, is to make them suffer grave injustice twice over,” he added.
“Only the rich can afford a passport, so he (Kaufman) is not aware of the situation. Either that or there is an intention to prevent the victims from participating in the ICC trial,” Butuyan said over Teleradyo Serbisyo.
Butuyan expressed confidence that the ICC will not allow the petition of Kaufman.
Butuyan said that certification from barangay officials is more than enough to prove the identity of the victims.
