Matobato’s lawyer elated by ICC review of claims vs. Duterte’s war on drugs

The lawyer of confessed hitman Edgar Matobato on Thursday welcomed the news that the International Criminal Court would review the allegations against President Rodrigo Duterte in connection with the killings blamed on his war on drugs.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque on Thursday announced that the Hague-based tribunal would conduct a preliminary examination of the allegations, more than nine months after Matobato's camp filed the complaint.

The complaint accused Duterte of committing crimes against humanity.

"At last, Mr. Duterte and his cohorts will face preliminary examination by the ICC prosecutor as a prelude to formal criminal investigation," Matobato's legal counsel Jude Sabio said in a statement.

Sabio expressed confidence that his case would "hurdle this first big step" and hoped that an arrest warrant against Duterte and his officials would come out of the ICC proceedings.

"I am confident that based on my communication as well as that of Senator Trillanes and Congressman Alejano, we will hurdle this first big step, and hopefully a warrant of arrest will be issued by the ICC against Duterte and his cohorts," Sabio said.

"His system of death squad killings since the Davao death squad that he continued in the war on drugs will now be investigated by the ICC and justice will be done," he added.

Matobato testified at a Senate inquiry on extrajudicial killings linked to the Duterte administration's violent crackdown on illegal drugs in September 2016.

He said he joined the so-called Davao Death Squad to seek justice for his father, who he said was beheaded by suspected communist rebels.

Matobato also filed a complaint against Duterte and 27 others before the Ombudsman in December 2016 for their involvement in the Davao Death Squad.

Duterte's name would later be withdrawn from the list of respondents.

The Philippine National Police pegged the number of drug personalities killed in anti-illegal drugs operations at 3,987 as of January 17, 2018.

But critics of the controversial campaign challenged this figure, with international watchdog group Human Rights Watch placing the death toll at a much higher 12,000. —NB, GMA News