Rody faces additional rap before ICC over drug killings

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and Magdalo party-list group Rep. Gary Alejano filed yesterday a supplemental complaint against President Duterte before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to press the court to conduct an investigation leading to his arrest for the thousands of drug-related extrajudicial killings in the country.

The 45-page complaint, or “Communication” as it is formally called, was addressed to ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and entitled “Digong, The Grave Digger: A Look into The Philippine President’s Bloody War On Drugs.”

The document was meant to supplement the one filed by lawyer Jude Josue Sabio before the ICC last April 24 accusing Duterte of violating the Rome Statute through commission of mass murder or extrajudicial executions constituting crimes against humanity. 

The communication stressed the “urgent need to conduct a preliminary examination on the allegations contained herein to provide a glimmer of hope for the thousands of victims that Duterte’s impunity would soon end.”

The lawmakers pointed out that a month after a communication from the Philippines was filed before the ICC against Duterte, “bodies continue to pile up as a seeming culture of impunity has reigned over the country.”

“The case of crimes against humanity against Duterte is very solid. He repeatedly, explicitly and clearly pronounced a national policy of killing drug suspects and the PNP (Philippine National Police) executed it,” Trillanes said.

“Moreover, the Philippines, being a state party and Duterte being a Filipino, satisfy jurisdictional requirements. Any Filipino lawyer who says otherwise should read the ICC policy papers first,” he said.

Trillanes and Alejano also included in the communication the list of killings which transpired after the first was submitted to the ICC, among other relevant incidents which they said proved the killings are being done systematically by the police in so-called legitimate operations, or through vigilante style executions carried out by police themselves acting as vigilantes or through hired killers.

They cited PNP statistics that show 9,432 homicide cases from July 1, 2016, a day after Duterte assumed office, to March 31 this year.

They also disputed the claim of PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa that of the figure, only 1,847 were drug-related and the rest were still under investigation.

The document was also replete with excerpts of Duterte’s speeches that quoted him as ordering the killing or wanting to kill drug suspects that the lawmakers said showed the extrajudicial killings were policy.

Alejano said their communication satisfies complementarity requirements as shown by the abruptly terminated Senate hearings on extrajudicial killings as well as Duterte’s immunity from suit, and the junking of the impeachment complaint against him.

The instances, he said, proved the government was unwilling and unable to prosecute the perpetrators of the crimes so there is still a continuing veil of impunity, which enables the carrying out of state-sponsored killings. 

“It is in this regard that we are calling on the ICC to intervene and conduct preliminary examination of the situation in the country in order to prevent further extrajudicial killings and render justice in the country,” Alejano said.

The Rome Statute is the treaty that established the ICC, the first permanent international court capable of trying perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression, the Statute’s four core international crimes.

The Philippines is a state party to the Rome Statute, together with 123 other state parties, after ratifying it in August 2011.

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said the filing of a supplemental complaint was an indication that the initial complaint was flawed.

“Their (Trillanes and Alejano) initial complaint was based merely on hearsay and unsubstantiated allegations. Unfortunately for the misguided lawmakers, they cannot hope to cure a complaint which is intrinsically flawed,” Panelo said in a statement. 

Panelo maintained that the ICC has no jurisdiction over the complaint because not all legal remedies have been exhausted. 

“It should be remembered that the ICC is a court of last resort and filing a case before it can only be resorted to after all domestic remedies are fully exhausted,” he said. – With Alexis Romero