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Cristina Chi - Philstar.com
February 23, 2026 | 8:19pm
Even the country's top justice official admitted there is no path to accountability at home, the victims' legal rep told the court
MANILA, Philippines — The victims of former president Rodrigo Duterte's drug war live in constant fear, not just of the former president, but of the millions of followers he converted into "bloodthirsty disciples" who continue to harass them, their representative told the International Criminal Court on Monday, February 23.
If the ICC does not confirm the charges against Duterte and prevent a trial, he will return to the Philippines as a "conquering hero" and be remembered by his supporters as "the leader who vanquished the ICC and who cleansed his country of 30,000 rapists, murderers, and dangerous criminals," lawyer Joel Butuyan warned the judges.
Butuyan, who delivered the opening speech as one of three common legal representatives for the victims in the case, made the remarks during the first day of the confirmation of charges hearing for Duterte at The Hague.
He urged the ICC Pre-trial Chamber I to allow the case to proceed to trial, saying it is the victims' "last boat" to justice.
"If this chamber prevents the boat from sailing by not confirming the charges, the victims will forever be moored in an island where the nights are filled with the screams and cries of their massacred loved ones," Butuyan said. "There is absolutely no other recourse for the victims."
Duterte faces three counts of murder as a crime against humanity for killings allegedly committed between November 2011 and March 2019, spanning his time as Davao City mayor and as president.
Plague of impunity
Butuyan described what he called a "plague of impunity" that Duterte had spread across the Philippines, saying the former president had created "clones" of himself. These are millions of ordinary citizens who now believe "violence and killings are valid solutions to societal problems."
These "mini-Dutertes" have continued to harass, threaten and commit violence against the victims and their families in the course of the ICC proceedings, the court-accredited lawyer said, which is why many still refuse to come forward.
Even ICC judges have been subjected to online harassment by Duterte's supporters, Butuyan noted. He added: "If the judges of this honorable chamber can be subjected to online harassment by Duterte clones, we should imagine the level of vulnerability the victims are exposed to in their poor villages."
Butuyan said even he and his fellow lawyers feel like "fugitives who avoid our own countrymen here in The Hague because chances are they are Duterte clones."
When they told this to the victims back home, the response was blunt — if their own lawyers feel threatened in a foreign country, imagine the fear they live with every day.
No domestic justice
Butuyan argued that Philippine courts offer no path to accountability for the victims. He cited former Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla — now the Ombudsman — who admitted last year after Duterte's arrest that domestic prosecution of drug war cases is effectively impossible.
Remulla's admission was at the time regarded as a striking reversal of the Marcos administration's position on the ICC.
As justice secretary, he had previously dismissed the ICC's drug war investigation as an "irritant" and insisted local courts were functional. But during a Senate hearing in March 2025 on Duterte's arrest, Remulla acknowledged that victims had turned to the ICC because they were denied justice at home.
Remulla had admitted a whopping 95% of wrongful deaths during the drug war had no police reports and that death certificates often falsely listed other causes of death.
Missing parents, wrecked families
Butuyan devoted a significant portion of his remarks to the devastation wrought on the families of those killed. The overwhelming majority of victims were sole breadwinners of poor families who lived hand to mouth, he said. Their deaths left widowed spouses to bear the burden of raising children alone under even worse conditions.
"Their development and upbringing have been permanently compromised," he said of the children. "They have been walking through life with one missing parental limb."
Butuyan also painted a picture of a country where Duterte's influence remains deeply entrenched. He noted that the former president's daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, recently declared she is running for president in 2028, while other family members hold power as congressman, city mayor and other offices.
Victims fear that without a trial, Duterte's followers will grow into a political force capable of electing "another apostle of impunity," Butuyan said. This will potentially unleash violence worse than the drug war, "and this time there would be no ICC to run to."
The vice president publicly announced her presidential bid less than a week before the ICC hearing began on Monday. She has long been the frontrunner in pre-election surveys despite facing multiple impeachment complaints over alleged misuse of millions in confidential funds.
Observers say the timing of the vice president's announcement was designed to project strength as her camp faces mounting legal pressure on multiple fronts, chiefly her father's ICC case and her own impeachment proceedings.
Butuyan also expressed the victims' "very deep disappointment" that Duterte was allowed to be absent during the hearing.
"The sight of Mr. Duterte being read and being confronted with the grave and horrible charges against him would have constituted a vital component of justice for the victims," he said.
