Jonathan Frederic De Santos

President Rodrigo Duterte is accorded with arrival honors and 21-gun salute during the PNP's assumption of command in Camp Crame on Friday, July 1, 2016. The President vows aggressive campaign against crime and illegal drugs. Kiwi Bulaclac, PPD/File

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<p>MANILA — Nicholas Kaufman, former President Rodrigo Duterte’s lawyer, told the International Criminal Court’s Pre-Trial Chamber I that “neutralization” in the government’s “war on drugs” only meant subduing suspects, not killing them.</p><p>The argument was part of Kaufman’s presentation where he also said that Duterte had told law enforcement to only use lethal force in self-defense.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/2/24/duterte-drew-up-death-lists-boasted-about-murders-icc-prosecutor-1942">Duterte drew up &#x27;death lists&#x27;, boasted about murders: ICC prosecutor<br/></a></div><p>Citing Philippine National Police Command Memorandum Circular 16-2016 on the anti-narcotics campaign, the PNP operations manual , as well as court documents on the term, he said &quot;neutralization can only mean the use of self-defense when officers’ lives are in danger.&quot;</p><p>He said that government documents on the &quot;drug war&quot; show that there is a &quot;coherent and consistent understanding that neutralization… is incapacitation…not a policy of killing.&quot;</p><p>He also said that statements by Duterte and his alleged co-perpetrators like then PNP chief Ronald &quot;Bato&quot; dela Rosa and then Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II were disparaging of alleged drug personalities but &quot;do not indicate a meeting of the minds&quot; for what the prosecution alleges was a &quot;common plan&quot; to kill them off.</p><p>Law enforcement agencies said the thousands who were killed in anti-drug operations during the Duterte presidency had violently resisted arrest.</p><p>A Department of Justice review of several dozen cases among thousands of operations where suspects were killed found that police officers had not examined or properly documented weapons that the supposed drug personalities allegedly used.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/02/24/21/guevarra-weapons-in-nanlaban-cases-not-examined-but-justice-system-working">Guevarra: Weapons in &#x27;nanlaban&#x27; cases not examined but justice system working<br/></a></div><p>“It was also noted that among others, in more than half of the records reviewed, the law enforcement agents involved failed to follow standard protocols pertaining to coordination with other agencies and the processing of the crime scene,” then-Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said in 2021.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>WATCH</strong></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/8NhRTC6hdgM?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>Defense lawyer Nicholas Kaufman said government documents on the "drug war" show that there is a "coherent and consistent understanding that neutralization… is incapacitation…not a policy of killing."</p>

Defense lawyer Nicholas Kaufman said government documents on the "drug war" show that there is a "coherent and consistent understanding that neutralization… is incapacitation…not a policy of killing."

Kaufman: 'Neutralize' in Duterte 'drug war' only meant arrest and subdue

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Kaufman: 'Neutralize' in Duterte 'drug war' only meant arrest and subdue

ABS-CBN News

Published February 26, 2026 08:06 PM PHT

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Nicholas Kaufman

Rodrigo Duterte

International Criminal Court

Ronald Dela Rosa

Philippine National Police

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