Camille Naredo

Julian Nicholls and Mame Mandiaye Niang of the prosecution during the confirmation of charges hearing against former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, February 23, 2026 at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Handout/ICC

Julian Nicholls and Mame Mandiaye Niang of the prosecution during the confirmation of charges hearing against former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, February 23, 2026 at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

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Carmelle Lacuata

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/177185782695255111631251_d532d69e6e_k.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Julian Nicholls and Mame Mandiaye Niang of the prosecution during the confirmation of charges hearing against former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, February 23, 2026 at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Handout/ICC" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Julian Nicholls and Mame Mandiaye Niang of the prosecution during the confirmation of charges hearing against former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, February 23, 2026 at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. <em>Handout/ICC</em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA (<strong>UPDATED</strong>) -- The Office of the Prosecution of the International Criminal Court on Monday said Rodrigo Duterte has no reason not to be present during his confirmation of charges hearing, adding that the former Philippine president is &quot;perfectly fine.&quot;</p><p>According to senior trial lawyer Julian Nicholls, the Prosecution does not believe that Duterte is not physically capable of attending the hearing, despite what his defense team claims.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/2/23/icc-opens-duterte-confirmation-of-charges-hearings-1718">READ: ICC prosecution lays down evidence vs Duterte in first pre-trial hearing</a></div><p>&quot;The point, despite what the defense might say here or to the press, Mr. Duterte is perfectly fine. He&#x27;s able to attend the proceedings today. There&#x27;s nothing stopping him except that he doesn&#x27;t want to be here. He chose not to face the court, not to face the victims. There is no reason for him not to be here, other than his request and choice,&quot; he said.</p><p>During the prosecution&#x27;s submissions on the merits of its charges against Duterte, Nicholls challenged the defense&#x27;s claim that his statements and utterances are merely hyperbole and bluster, and that his instructions to the police are connected with self-defense.</p><p>&quot;Those empty utterances were simply Mr. Duterte, who chose not to be here today, were simply him acting as the former prosecutor, trying to build in some semblance of a defense, preparing for the day, should it ever come, as it now has, that he will be held on account. It was to give his lawyers something to say,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;The reality is that Mr. Duterte&#x27;s message is 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&#x27;s what happened,&quot; Nicholls added.</p><p>He also emphasized that Duterte, days before his arrest, even brushed off the possibility of being arrested by the ICC -- which he claimed &quot;have been after him for a long time&quot;.</p><p>&quot;Days before he was arrested, three days before he was transferred to The Hague, his tough guy persona was on display again, during a speech in Hong Kong. He brushed off the possibility of an ICC arrest warrant, and he referred to the ICC as&#x27;m*therf*ckers who have been after him for a long time&#x27;,&quot; Nicholls said.</p><p>&quot;Of course, after arriving in The Hague, his lawyers very soon began arguing that Mr. Duterte was not fit enough for these proceedings, wasn&#x27;t physically or mentally fit enough to be put on trial or for his charges to be confirmed,&quot; he added.</p><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/U5eUF8SFaHY?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span></div><p>The defense team, headed by Nicholas Kaufman, earlier said his client was &quot;a unique phenomenon&quot; who was &quot;gung-ho in his ways&quot; and was full of &quot;hyperbole, bluster and rhetoric.&quot; </p><p>He also accused the prosecution of &quot;cherry-picking&quot; through Duterte&#x27;s speeches, adding that many of them insist on the importance of sticking to the law.</p><p>The former president&#x27;s speeches did not have &quot;lethal intent&quot; but aimed to &quot;instill fear in the hearts&quot; of criminals, said the lawyer.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>PROSECUTION DETAILS FORMATION, PROCEDURE OF ‘DAVAO DEATH SQUAD&#x27;</strong></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1771862232380DDS structure.png" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960" alt="Screen grab from ICC"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left"><em>Screen grab from ICC </em></span></span></span></div><p>Nicholls also talked about the formation of the so-called &quot;Davao Death Squad&quot;, which perpetuated much of the drug-related killings in Davao City during Duterte&#x27;s time as mayor.</p><p>The formation of the death squad, according to Nicholls, was part of Duterte&#x27;s promise to &quot;crackdown&quot; on crime and drugs.</p><p>&quot;As mayor of Davao, Mr. Duterte promised a &#x27;crackdown&#x27; on crime and drugs. Mr. Duterte created liquidation squads, death squads, made up both of Davao City police officers as well as non-police officers who were essentially hired hitmen, hired killers, and this system of his became known as the Davao Model,&quot; he said, adding that the &quot;Davao Model&quot; was murder, and not merely being tough on crime as the defense claims.</p><p>&quot;And you might think it&#x27;s a little strange, cracking down on crime by committing the crime of murder,&quot; Nicholls also said.</p><p>As mayor, Duterte had de jure and de facto control over the Davao police, according to Nicholls, who also showed a diagram of the structure of the DDS.</p><p>With Duterte at the top, his orders are relayed down to the DDS members through his co-perpetrators, whose tasks include relaying his orders down to the DDS handlers, as well as to relay reports back to Duterte.</p><p>The handlers, on the other hand, are responsible for the different members, who are on the lowest rung of the organization.</p><p>According to Nicholls, these members are the ones who physically commit the murders, and most of them are indebted either to Duterte or the police, making it easier for them to be controlled.</p><p>&quot;These members at the bottom were often recruited because they had a debt or owed something to Mr. Duterte or the police, and could therefore be controlled, and as members at the very bottom, were at risk themselves, because if they don&#x27;t follow orders, or they try to leave the DDS, they could be tortured, or killed, or both, and there is evidence to that in this case,&quot; he said.</p><p>Citing an account from a witness, who was recruited to the DDS in 1988, Duterte clearly told them that it was their job to kill criminals.</p><p>&quot;Mr. Duterte was present, and he openly told the new members of the death squad he was forming that their job was to kill criminals…In private, with his paid killers, Mr. Duterte didn&#x27;t say anything about self-defense,&quot; Nicholls said.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>CO-PERPETRATORS NAMED</strong></div><p>Nicholls likewise named some of Duterte&#x27;s co-perpetrators in this period, which included the following:</p><p>-- Former Davao City Police chief and now Senator Ronald &quot;Bato&quot; Dela Rosa</p><p>-- Former Davao City Police chief Dante Danao</p><p>-- Senator Christopher &quot;Bong&quot; Go, a longtime aide and special assistant to Duterte</p><p>-- Former National Bureau of Investigation Davao Regional Director Dante Gierran</p><p>-- Former Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, who was a lawyer for Duterte and DDS members.</p><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1771862207437co-perpetrators.png" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Screen grab from ICC" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left"><em>Screen grab from ICC </em></span></span></span></div><p><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/2/20/icc-confirmation-of-charges-hearing-to-proceed-without-duterte-1724">Duterte was not present at his confirmation of charges hearing</a> after the ICC granted his request to waive his right to attend, where he said he refuses to recognize the court&#x27;s jurisdiction over his case.</p><p>He is facing three counts of crimes against humanity over the alleged killings committed from 2011 to 2019, covering his terms as Davao City mayor and as president.  </p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/2/23/duterte-maintains-his-innocence-absolutely-says-kaufman-1949">&#x27;Give Tatay Digong back to Filipinos&#x27;: Defense urges dismissal of &#x27;politically-motivated charges&#x27;</a></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO:</strong></div><div><strong><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/e2GtVshPYKQ?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span></strong><br/></div>

<p>The Office of the Prosecution of the International Criminal Court on Monday said Rodrigo Duterte has no reason not to be present during his confirmation of charges hearing, adding that the former Philippine president is “perfectly fine.”</p>

The Office of the Prosecution of the International Criminal Court on Monday said Rodrigo Duterte has no reason not to be present during his confirmation of charges hearing, adding that the former Philippine president is “perfectly fine.”

'He doesn't want to be here': Duterte is 'perfectly fine' to attend confirmation of charges hearing, says prosecution

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'He doesn't want to be here': Duterte is 'perfectly fine' to attend confirmation of charges hearing, says prosecution

Rose Carmelle Lacuata,

ABS-CBN News

Published Feb 23, 2026 10:49 PM PHT

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Updated Feb 25, 2026 08:23 AM PHT

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Rodrigo Duterte

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International Criminal Court

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