Dennis Gaviola

Article (news)

Rowegie Abanto

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/1772191172040composites 2 (1) (1).jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Screenshot of photos of so-called high-value targets in Rodrigo Duterte&#x27;s list and Nicholas Kaufman.<em> Courtesy of ICC/Handout</em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — Rodrigo Duterte&#x27;s chief defense lawyer on Friday continued to challenge the arguments of the prosecution presented at the International Criminal Court, saying the former president&#x27;s &quot;high-value target&quot; (HVT) list was not a code for killing or &quot;witch hunt.&quot;</p><p>Nicholas Kaufman, on the last day of Duterte&#x27;s pre-trial hearings, said the prosecution&#x27;s argument claiming the term &quot;high-value target&quot; could be evidence of a coordinated plan &quot;cannot be sustained.&quot;</p><p>He said that the prioritization of certain people in a law enforcement campaign &quot;does not establish a criminal plan&quot; and that &quot;HVT&quot; was just an operational classification.</p><p>&quot;HVT is not a code for an instruction to kill or a witch hunt.&quot;</p><p>The British-Israeli lawyer claimed the compilation of a &quot;high-value target&quot; list is a &quot;prioritization tool&quot; in illegal drug operations and &quot;does not imply selection for murder.&quot;</p><p>Individuals could be designated &quot;high value for purposes of operational attention,&quot; Kaufman continued, adding that many high-profile operations in the Philippines resulted in &quot;arrest or surrender.&quot; </p><p>But he also acknowledged that some &quot;resulted in fatal encounters.&quot;</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;THE DUTERTE LIST&#x27;</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>When Duterte assumed the Philippine presidency in 2016, he came up with a list containing alleged high-profile drug personalities, also called &quot;narco-list&quot; or simply &quot;Duterte list,&quot; in which <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/focus/07/04/18/mayors-and-vice-mayors-killed-under-duterte-administration">some local leaders were included and ended up dead</a>.</p><p>The drawing up of that list could be stemmed from the controversial memorandum issued by Duterte&#x27;s first national police chief, now Sen. Ronald &quot;Bato&quot; dela Rosa, which formed basis of the &quot;Oplan Double Barrel.&quot;</p><p>There, Dela Rosa ordered the police to address the problem of illegal drugs at the barangay level (Project Tokhang) and directed a &quot;massive and reinvigorated&quot; crackdown on narcotics by &quot;targeting illegal drugs personalities and drug syndicates&quot; (Project HVT), the prosecution noted Tuesday.</p><p>It pointed out that Duterte, in a speech, admitted that he was the &quot;sole person responsible for this all.&quot;</p><p>Duterte faces three counts of crimes humanity of murder related to his brutal war on drugs. </p><p>The second count relates to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRBKRHUzMxA">14 murders of &quot;high-value targets&quot;</a> in 2016 and 2017 when he was president.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;EACH HVT INCIDENT SHOULD BE SCRUTINIZED ON ITS OWN&#x27;</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>Kaufman also told the court that every &quot;high-value target&quot; incident should be &quot;scrutinized on its own evidentiary foundation.&quot;</p><p>He pointed to Incident 14 presented by the prosecution, the killing of Ozamiz Mayor Reynaldo &quot;Aldong&quot; Parojinog Sr. and 15 others. </p><p>Parojinog was among local officials on Duterte&#x27;s &quot;narco-list&quot; but the mayor had denied involvement in illegal drugs.</p><p>The Duterte lawyer said Incident 14 &quot;is particularly instructive&quot; because &quot;four individuals were arrested alive.&quot; </p><p>&quot;To us, that demonstrates selective and not indiscriminate use of force,&quot; he said.</p><p>Parojinog, including his wife, brother and nephew, were killed in a series of raids in San Roque Lawis, Ozamiz City on July 30, 2017.</p><p>According to police, they met violent resistance when they served six search warrants for firearms in the properties of Parojinog and his family.</p><p>Kaufman added that in other &quot;high-value target&quot; incidents, including Incident 14, gunpowder residue had been detected on the victim&#x27;s hands. </p><p>&quot;At a minimum, that forensic finding is consistent with an exchange of gunfire and not consistent with a straightforward execution narrative,&quot; he said.</p><p>But former Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra, who was Duterte&#x27;s justice secretary in 2021, said a review of a few cases among thousands where &quot;drug personalities&quot; were killed found lapses in protocol.</p><p>Among the lapses were that weapons used in cases where drug suspects allegedly fought back or &quot;nanlaban&quot; <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/02/24/21/guevarra-weapons-in-nanlaban-cases-not-examined-but-justice-system-working">had not been fully examined</a> and there were no attempts to establish that suspects had fired at law enforcement personnel.</p>

<p>Rodrigo Duterte's chief defense lawyer on Friday continued to challenge the arguments of the prosecution presented at the International Criminal Court, saying the former leader's "high-value target" (HVT) list was not a code for killing or "witch hunt."</p>

Rodrigo Duterte's chief defense lawyer on Friday continued to challenge the arguments of the prosecution presented at the International Criminal Court, saying the former leader's "high-value target" (HVT) list was not a code for killing or "witch hunt."

Duterte 'high-value target' list not a code for killing or 'witch hunt' — lawyer

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Duterte 'high-value target' list not a code for killing or 'witch hunt' — lawyer

Rowegie Abanto,

ABS-CBN News

Published Feb 27, 2026 07:43 PM PHT

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ICC

International Criminal Court

Rodrigo Duterte

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