Palace belittles additional evidence vs Duterte in ICC

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang yesterday belittled the filing of additional evidence against President Duterte over alleged crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court (ICC), dismissing the move as “cheap political propaganda” intended to embarrass the Philippine leader.

Rise Up for Life and Rights (Rise Up), a group critical of the government’s anti-drug campaign, recently filed a supplemental communication asking ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to admit new facts and evidence that it claimed would bolster the case against Duterte.

The supplemental pleading accused the President of committing, ordering and tolerating acts of murder and other inhumane acts. Neri Colmenares, chairman of the National Union of People’s Lawyers, a group that assisted in the filing of new evidence against Duterte, previously said families of people killed in the drug war turn to the ICC because the President is immune from suit.

Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said the Office of the President was hardly surprised upon learning that a supplemental communication was filed before the ICC.

“The motive of the communication is suspect. The detractors’ trumped up figures have no factual basis and they know that the same allegations will not hold up in court,” Panelo said in a statement.

“If Rise Up has any basis for its submission, then they should have the decency to honor the memory of those who died and file actual complaints before our courts. Its immediate resort to the ICC, when our courts are able and willing to hear any and all cases in the country, shows that they are using the deaths to pursue its own selfish agenda,” he added.

Rise Up, according to Panelo, is trying to blemish the “legitimate” operations of law enforcement personnel “who were only forced to protect themselves in the performance of their duty” before an international tribunal that does not have jurisdiction over the Philippines.

He claimed that the case against Duterte is “doomed from the very start.”