43 cases show pattern; Du30 quips make prosecution ‘easier’
The lone charge of murder under crimes against humanity comprising at least 43 killings of drug suspects in the bloody antinarcotics crackdown is enough to provide a solid basis against former President Rodrigo Duterte in the International Criminal Court (ICC), international law expert and ICC-accredited lawyer Joel Butuyan said on Thursday.
And in comparison to past cases of similar grave crimes tried in The Hague-based court, the self-incriminating statements of Duterte in official speeches throughout his presidency and mayoral years make the case against him “relatively easier” to prosecute, he added.
For Butuyan, the drug-related deaths are one too many as the court needs only “at least one or more killings” for the proof of murder in the “widespread and systemic attack” defined in the Rome Statute under crimes against humanity.
“The 43 deaths are already too many if we take into account the Rome Statute,” Butuyan, who is also president of the Center for International Law (Centerlaw), told reporters in a forum.
The Office of the Prosecutor originally charged Duterte with three counts of crimes against humanity, namely murder, torture and rape, but the Pre-Trial Chamber, in its arrest warrant dated March 7, dropped the allegations of torture and rape due to lack of sufficient basis.
Self-incriminating videos
In the ICC, Butuyan noted, the crimes against humanity are not prosecuted based on individual instances of murders, hence the single count of murder for the 43 deaths cited in the warrant of Duterte.
Instead, it is the act of masterminding the state policy to resolve the issue of illegal drugs in the country, he pointed out.
“It is a prosecution of the people who ordered the trigger to be pulled, and not a prosecution of the people who pulled the trigger,” Butuyan stressed.
In such cases, the link between the participation of the leader to the killings by low-ranking police officers would have to be established and that is usually the hardest part for the prosecution, he said.
“Even if there were deaths on the ground, how will you pinpoint that it was caused by the leader? What is the threat to show that it was masterminded by a leader who is the subject of a prosecution?” asked Butuyan.
“But in the case of Duterte, he has so many videos showing his own official statements that practically admit [liability]; that practically direct the police to kill, kill, kill; that practically say rewards and promotions will be given … and that practically encourages the public to kill drug personalities and suspects,” he said.
All these, Butuyan noted, could be pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle, making it “easier” for the prosecutor “because the accused himself provided evidence for his conviction.”
Pattern of abuse
Harry Roque, who is among the five Filipino lawyers recognized by the ICC, insisted that the discrepancy between the official number of deaths in the drug war and those cited in the arrest warrant was mere “propaganda.”
“They say they are in the thousands. But now it appears there were only 43. I leave it at that. It speaks for itself,” he said in a virtual press conference on Monday.
However, this was debunked by a ranking House leader on Thursday, explaining the nature of the charge against Duterte, specifically on why he is being made to answer for only 43 extrajudicial killings and not 30,000.
Tingog Rep. Jude Acidre emphasized that the 43 instances cited by the ICC are not an attempt at a statistical sample, but a representative group that would “reveal a consistent pattern of abuse and brutality.”
“These 43 cases are chosen because of the quality of the evidence and the ]Office of the Prosecutor’s] ability to prove from these cases a systematic violation of human rights,” said Acidre. “This is not about the quantity, but the gravity and truth of each case.”
As explained in ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan’s application for a warrant, the cases were chosen to establish a pattern of abuse.
Bulacan, Caloocan killings
While the details of the cases were redacted, a closer look indicated that at least eight were drawn from the deaths from the Philippine National Police operations in Bulacan and Caloocan in 2017 and 2018.
The police chiefs in those areas at the time were Romeo Caramat, one of the five police officers sought by the ICC before it issued a warrant of arrest, and Chito Bersaluna, under whose supervision saw the death of 17-year-old Kian delos Santos.
“These killings are not isolated incidents,” Acidre stressed. “Each killing has the same narrative—there was no due process, no justice. And the evidence shows a larger pattern of abuse.”
