Cheyenne Suarez

Families of drug war victims watch a stream of the International Criminal Court pre-trial hearing at a gathering in Quezon City on March 15, 2025. Izzy Lee, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

PH should return to ICC, probe drug war killings to show issue not ‘politicized’ — HRW

Ched Rick Gatchalian

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1742002644785viber_image_2025-03-15_02-42-01-662.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Families of drug war victims watch a stream of the International Criminal Court pre-trial hearing at a gathering in Quezon City on March 15, 2025. Izzy Lee, ABS-CBN News"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Families of drug war victims watch a stream of the International Criminal Court pre-trial hearing at a gathering in Quezon City on March 15, 202<em>5. Izzy Lee, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — The Ferdinand Marcos Jr. administration should consider rejoining the International Criminal Court and start probing others involved in the bloody drug war to counter claims of using the issue of extrajudicial killings as a political tool against former President Rodrigo Duterte, a rights watchdog said Saturday.</p><p>Duterte, arrested last Tuesday and transported to the Netherlands that night, made his first appearance at the ICC at The Hague for the crime against humanity of murder over the drug war.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/3/14/rodrigo-duterte-makes-first-icc-appearance-2153">READ: Rodrigo Duterte makes first ICC appearance</a></div><div><strong>&#x27;LOGICAL MOVE&#x27;</strong></div><p>As <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/3/12/house-leaders-say-ph-should-consider-rejoining-icc-1921">some lawmakers have suggested a return to the ICC</a>, Human Rights Watch senior researcher Carlos Conde told Teleradyo Serbisyo that it is the only &quot;logical move&quot; for Marcos Jr.</p><p>&quot;Kung magiging consistent lang ang administrasyong Marcos tungkol dito na nakita nila &#x27;yung value ng ICC at i-improve &#x27;yung human rights situation sa bansa, wala talaga silang choice kundi ibalik ang Pilipinas sa International Criminal Court,&quot; he said.</p><p>(If the Marcos administration would be consistent that they see ICC&#x27;s value and they want to improve the human rights situation in the country, they have no choice but to rejoin the International Criminal Court.)</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/X99Smfx-Af0?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><p>Conde said not doing so would add to the resentment of Duterte supporters as that would supposedly show that Marcos Jr. had only &quot;politicized&quot; the issue against his predecessor.</p><p>Marcos Jr. has repeatedly said the Philippines does not recognize ICC jurisdiction but the government shifted its position slightly by saying it would not refuse a request for assistance from the International Police Organization, Interpol, in serving an ICC warrant.</p><p>That was what happened last Tuesday, with Marcos Jr. saying it was what the international community expects of countries.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/2/20/-jurisdiction-still-in-question-marcos-jr-stresses-ph-will-not-cooperate-with-icc-probe-1640">READ: Marcos Jr. stresses PH will not cooperate with ICC probe</a></div><p>&quot;If hindi sila magte-take ng steps to kumbaga re-ratify the Rome Statue na nag-create ng ICC, magiging hungkag lang ang mga ito. Lalo tuloy mapapatunayan ng mga tao na supporter ni Duterte na ito ay pulitika lang. Hindi dapat hanggang dito lang ang gagawin ni Mr. Marcos,&quot; Conde explained.</p><p>(This will be meaningless if they won&#x27;t take steps to re-ratify the Rome Statue that created the ICC. It would only prove to Duterte supporters that this was only politicized. This should not be the last move of Mr. Marcos.)</p><p>&quot;Apart from ibalik ang Pilipinas sa ICC, kailangan nya mag-imbestiga sa mga pulis at mga nasa poder na nag-carry out ng mga patayan noong panahon ni Duterte,&quot; he continued.</p><p>(Apart from rejoining ICC, Marcos Jr. should investigate the police and other officials that carried out the killings during Duterte&#x27;s term.)</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/3/14/former-cop-who-spent-3-months-in-tokhang-unit-denied-canadian-residency-1717">Former cop who spent 3 months in &#x27;tokhang&#x27; unit denied Canadian residency</a></div><p>The senior researcher said Duterte isn&#x27;t the lone suspect in the war on drugs as he also mentioned the police force during Duterte&#x27;s term and re-electionist Bato Dela Rosa, the chief implementor of the war on drugs.</p><p>Sen. Ronald &quot;Bato&quot; Dela Rosa who implemented the drug war as national police chief, said this week he is <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/3/12/bato-ready-to-join-duterte-at-the-hague-if-all-legal-options-fail-1853"></a><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/3/12/bato-ready-to-join-duterte-at-the-hague-if-all-legal-options-fail-1853">willing to join Duterte in The Hague if all his legal options fail</a>. </p><p>He has also expressed interest in seeking refuge at the Senate for as long as it can shield him from a warrant that the ICC might issue for his arrest.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/3/13/bato-to-avail-of-senate-protection-in-case-icc-orders-his-arrest-1315">READ: Bato to avail of &#x27;Senate protection&#x27; in case ICC orders his arrest</a></div><div><strong>&#x27;PINAKAMATINDING HUMAN RIGHTS CATASTROPHE SA PILIPINAS&#x27;</strong></div><p>Conde said Filipinos should resist being swayed by &quot;side issues&quot; surrounding Duterte&#x27;s arrest, with Vice President Sara Duterte and her father&#x27;s lawyer alleging that what happened was &quot;state kidnapping&quot;.</p><p>Others have also questioned the number of cops arresting Duterte and claimed that authorities did not read the Miranda rights to the former leader, despite videos and statements from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) proving otherwise.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/3/14/-pure-and-simple-kidnapping-medialdea-tells-icc-on-duterte-s-arrest-2358">READ: &#x27;Pure and simple kidnapping,&#x27; Medialdea tells ICC on Duterte&#x27;s arrest</a></div><p>Conde said these allegations are only intended to agitate Duterte supporters.</p><p>&quot;Ang issue dito &#x27;yung karumaldumal na pagpatay ng 30,000 katao na mahigit noong nanungkulan si Duterte. &#x27;Yun na lang ang tutukan natin. Maganda naman &#x27;yung estado ni Pangulong Duterte sa The Hague,&quot; he stressed.</p><p>(The issue here was the violent killing of 30,000 people during Duterte&#x27;s term. We should focus solely on that. President Duterte seems to be well taken care of at The Hague.)</p><p>He called on Duterte&#x27;s camp to stop their alleged &quot;gaslighting&quot; to their supporters and start minding the actual issue which he said are the supposed extra-judicial killings.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/3/12/-kinilabutan-kami-families-of-ejk-victims-react-to-duterte-s-arrest-1531">READ: Families of EJK victims react to Duterte’s arrest</a></div><p>&quot;Itong nangyari nitong war, ito &#x27;yung nangyaring pinakamatinding human rights catastrophe sa Pilipinas sa history natin. Not even during the Marcos dictatorship. Ngayon kung &#x27;di ninyo titingnan at mas lalong titingnan pa ng mga kaalyado ni Duterte &#x27;yung kung paano siya inaresto, e medyo mag-isip-isip naman tayo ng kaunti kung ano &#x27;yung moralidad natin at pagtingin sa kung ano ang tama,&quot; he said.</p><p>(This [drug] war, this is the worst human rights catastrophe in the Philippine history. Not even during the Marcos dictatorship. If you won&#x27;t look at it and Duterte&#x27;s allies will focus more on how he was arrested, maybe we should rethink our moral compass a bit and look at how we see what&#x27;s right.)</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DsdBSyARKmY?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><strong>ESTABLISHING &#x27;PATTERN&#x27; NECESSARY TO PROVE &#x27;CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY</strong></div><p>As ICC&#x27;s charges against Duterte only mentioned about 43 killings, significantly lower than the 30,000 extra-judicial killings mentioned by progressive outfits and 6,000 deaths that have been acknowledged by the Philippine National Police, Conde said establishing a &quot;pattern&quot; in few incidents would be enough.</p><p>He said that families of drug war victims were not properly heard in the country back then, and interviewing each of them would be impossible.</p><p>&quot;Ito ang nakikita namin. Mula noong sinimulan nila ang imbestigasyon noong 2018, ang hirap nang kumuha ng mga ebidensya. Ang hirap ng maghikayat ng witness na tumestigo at mag-file ng complaint sa The Hague kasi dito pa lang sa Pilipinas talo na sila,&quot; he said.</p><p>(This is what we see. Since the investigation [on the drug war] started in 2018, it was hard to seek evidence. It was difficult to convince witness to testify or file a complaint at the The Hague because they already lost here in the Philippines.)</p><p>&quot;Para ma-establish nila kung mayroong ginawang crimes against humanity dito, kailangan nila i-establish &#x27;yung pattern at kailangan nilang kumuha ng mga testimonya na kahit magilan-ngilan lang at maayos naman &#x27;yung pagdodokumento,&quot; he added.</p><p>(To establish if there are crimes against humanity, they have to establish the pattern and they have to get testimonies even from a few with proper documentation.)</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/3/14/sara-visits-dad-rodrigo-duterte-says-he-is-in-good-spirits-0116">READ: Sara visits dad Rodrigo Duterte in detention, says he is &#x27;in good spirits&#x27;</a></div><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QvcH7k-FFkc?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>Human Rights Watch senior researcher Carlos Conde said Sturday that it is the only "logical move" for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.</p>

Human Rights Watch senior researcher Carlos Conde said Sturday that it is the only "logical move" for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.