Int’l court convicts Duterte of crimes against humanity in non-legally binding ruling

The International People's Tribunal (IPT) has found President Rodrigo Duterte guilty of crimes against humanity in a non-legally binding ruling expected to bolster allegations against him before the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Handed down Wednesday, the ruling held that Duterte and his government have committed "various crimes against humanity" and "war crimes" against Filipinos "on a daily basis."

The IPT is convened by the European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights, Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers, International Association of Democratic Lawyers, IBON International and the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines.

Duterte's co-defendants — United States President Donald Trump, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, and unidentified "transnational corporations and foreign banks doing business in the Philippines" — did not participate in the proceedings.

The allegations, brought by several militant groups, include "gross and systematic violations of human rights, particularly civil and political rights, with focus on extrajudicial killings, massacres, arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture, political persecution, attacks on media, and multiple rights violations arising from the imposition of martial rule in Mindanao."

Other charges include exploitative policies, "various forms of economic plunder," terrorist labeling, destructive mining, and attacks on civilian communities and on the "people's right to national liberation."

'Sham decision'

Duterte has snubbed the IPT proceedings, which Malacañang had earlier dismissed as leftist propaganda.

At a press briefing on Thursday, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque downplayed the decision.

"That’s a sham decision. It has no official sanction," Roque told reporters.

"The validity of the findings will depend on the credibility of the tribunals. I’m in this field of law. I do not know who sat there. They appear to be a propaganda body of the international left, and therefore we set it aside as being a useless piece of propaganda against the government," he said.

But Edre Olalia, the president of the National Union of People's Lawyers, calls the tribunal a "legitimate," "alternative or parallel" people-initiated platform for seeking redress. 

"Its biggest value is its strong moral suasion and political push that would complement the overall efforts from all sources in the ultimate search for justice," Olalia said in a statement.

"It delivers a message and a lesson to leaders, governments and institutions that they cannot simply get away with their responsibility and accountability to the people by using the very rules to oppress, exploit and repress them," he said.

IPT ruling

The IPT's eight-man panel of jurors conceded that their decision "is meant specifically and primarily to recognize and to request the most urgent attention to the rights of the victims of the past, ongoing and certainly impending violations."

The ruling, which did not impose specific punishment on the President, was based on a "detailed examination of the overwhelming oral, visual, written documentation" of alleged violations of Filipinos' rights, through 31 testimonies and "expert reports."

"We heard the summary testimonies of witnesses - many of them heart-wrenching, traumatic and horrific - experts and resource persons, as well as the digests of the wealth of data, information, facts, analyses and other evidence presented and submitted before us," the tribunal held.

"The abundant evidence adduced before us leads to the indubitable conclusion that indeed Defendant Duterte’s policy pronouncements, statements, and actions are in brazen violation of a slew of people’s rights," it added.

The ICC Office of the Prosecutor has confirmed it will receive the ruling, according to Olalia, who hopes the Hague-based tribunal will seriously consider the "credible findings and abundant evidence" of the IPT.

Duterte faces two sets of charges before the ICC, both seeking his indictment for thousands of alleged extrajudicial killings in connection with his administration's brutal crackdown on illegal drugs.

Earlier in the year, the ICC announced it was launching a preliminary examination of allegations of crimes against humanity against the President, who has repeatedly said the tribunal has no jurisdiction over him.

He has since unilaterally withdrawn the country's membership from the ICC, a move whose constitutionality is being questioned before the Philippine Supreme Court.

Unless stopped, the ICC withdrawal will become effective in March 2019. — MDM/RSJ, GMA News