MANILA — Drug war victims and the prosecution both called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) Pre-Trial Chamber I to conclude Rodrigo Duterte’s fitness to trial after the medical experts submitted their review, and set the date for the confirmation of charges hearing without delay to guarantee the victims’ right to expeditious proceedings.

“It strongly appears that Mr Duterte is feigning cognitive impairments in an attempt to avoid a trial on the merits,” the Prosecution of the International Criminal Court (ICC) stated based on the report from the panel of medical experts.

ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I appointed a panel of independent medical experts to assess Duterte’s ability to follow and take part in the pre-trial proceedings, giving them a deadline until December 5. The medical details of Duterte are redacted since it contained confidential medical information.

The principal counsel of the Office of Public Counsel for Victims (OPCV), representing the collective interests of the potential victims, stresses that there exists no obstacles that would prevent Duterte from meaningfully exercising his procedural rights.

“Consequently, on the basis of the Panel’s conclusions, the Chamber is in a position to positively determine that Mr Duterte is able to fully engage and participate in the pre-trial proceedings,” the OPCV’s principal counsel stated.

Duterte is currently in the custody of ICC in The Hague after the Court found reasonable grounds to believe that he is responsible for crimes against humanity of murder committed under his term as a mayor of Davao City and as president in 2018, before the withdrawal of the Philippines from the Rome Statute took effect.

Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the Rome Statute in March 2018. This was the basis of his legal counsel in its claim that the ICC has no jurisdiction over the case. But the withdrawal only took effect a year after a state had formally withdrawn from the Rome Statute. In this case, the Philippines withdrawal from the Statute only took effect on March 16, 2019. Last October 23, the ICC rejected Duterte’s challenge on the jurisdiction, citing its legal power to continue investigating and prosecuting him.

“A State shall not be discharged, by reason of its withdrawal, from the obligations arising from this Statute while it was a Party to the Statute, including any financial obligations which may have accrued,” the Article 127 read, outlining the jurisdiction of the court despite its withdrawal from the Statute.

Of 30,000 victims recorded by human rights organizations, only four cases have resulted in court convictions. The ICC Registry reportedly received more than 300 applications for victim participation in Duterte’s prosecution.

The ICC released the document containing some excerpts from the victims gathered by the Victims Participation and Reparations Section (VPRS). A drug war orphan said, “I am very angry; why it happened to us, why “tokhang” killings happened and rob[bed] children of their parents and their future in general. […] When our parents died, no one supported us anymore except our relatives but they were also poor like us and had their own families to feed. So even if we were children then, we had to work also.”

The majority of the victims of Duterte’s drug war came from the poorest sectors of the Philippines, especially in the urban poor communities.

“I was distraught when they killed my [Redacted] sons. My grief and sadness worsened when they even detained the last son I have […], after the incident, because I was afraid that they would do the same thing to my last son and I feared that I would have no son anymore,” a victim stated, indicating multiple children have been victimized under the brutal policy in just one family.

On November 28, the ICC Appeals Chamber unanimously upheld the Pre-Trial Chamber’s September 26 decision to reject Duterte’s request for interim release, affirming that his continued detention is necessary to ensure his appearance in the proceedings and address risks identified by the court.

Read: Drug war families find hope as ICC denies Duterte’s bid for interim release

The families of the victims of Duterte’s war on drugs asserted that he should not be released since he still has the influence and capacity to cause further harm to the victims and survivors, and could even jeopardize the investigation.

“The victim wants to seek justice for her son in a discreet way as her family also [do] not know of this process; even her relatives who are still very supportive of the Dutertes can be a threat to her safety if they’d know. She feels she could not get justice by relying on the local court. […] She fears for their safety, there were times she would see drones above their house and afraid that the police might be doing surveillance,” an excerpt from the VPRS report stated.

Moreover, families of the victims also attributed the looming threat of retaliation coming from the police. At the height of the drug war killings, the victims were killed in police operations and vigilante-style killed by unidentified men.

Former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) General Manager Royina Garma, who also served as Cebu City police chief under Duterte’s administration, detailed how the latter contacted her to implement war on drugs on a national scale, replicating the Davao model. The model is an incentivized system that involves three levels of payments.

“First is the reward if the suspect is killed. Second is the funding of planned operations. Third is the refund of operational expenses,” said Garma in the House of Representative’s quad committee hearing last year.

Read: Duterte’s testimony affirmed that drug-related extrajudicial killings a state policy — right groups

Braving threats and fear of retaliation, another victim said: “I want justice more than anything. I am aware that [my brother] used drugs, but this is not a reason for the police to kill him without due process. He was a good and loving person and could have been rehabilitated if given the chance.” (AMU,RVO)

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