Dispatch from the ICC grounds: A waving Duterte, tears of joy, delaying tactics

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Just after the International Criminal Court (ICC) Trial Chamber III adjourned the third status conference for Rodrigo Duterte’s upcoming trial, the former president looked out and waved at viewers in the public gallery.

The gesture lasted only a few seconds as the gallery curtain closed, leaving several Duterte supporters tearing up.

Unlike previous hearings in Duterte’s ICC case, only a few supporters attended today’s status conference, as they did not expect the former president to appear today. The other viewers were students touring the ICC, a handful of journalists, and other local visitors.

“Looking good”

The conference started promptly at 10:30 AM local time (4:30 PM Manila), with the gallery curtain slowly opening up.

From our position in the media seats, Duterte was on the far end of the defense side. My journalist colleagues and I had been anticipating his appearance since there was no publicized request from his counsel, Peter Haynes, to waive his attendance before the court.

As the judges entered the courtroom, Duterte was seated with his right hand on his chin – a posture reminiscent of one of his presidential portraits.

Before the prosecution began their presentation, the journalists had a good five minutes spent observing the former president – who, as the photos of the day show, sports long hair and dons a black jacket and white inner shirt – before leaving the gallery to break the news.

For some journalists, he was “looking good”, far from a mental image of an emaciated Duterte that his relatives had described some months back.

A photojournalist, whom I briefly spoke with as I left the gallery, described Duterte as “looking happy” when she saw him entering the courtroom. She said the former president “invited” them to go to “our beautiful country of the Philippines.”

“Tears of joy”

When we returned to the gallery, I saw some smiling supporters locking their gaze on the former president, while others clasped their hands, as if praying.

Janet Suliman, a long-time Duterte supporter, said she cried “tears of joy” when she saw Duterte – his first public appearance before the Court since March 14, 2025.

She and other supporters told me they had expected him to appear in a wheelchair or in a visibly worse condition.

“He’s a fighter,” Suliman said. “He looked confident. We believe he knows that he didn’t do anything wrong.” She added that they would continue to stand by Duterte “until the end” and that “justice would prevail.”

I told Suliman that the relatives of drug war victims also want that justice as well. However, she said that some killed during the drug war “fought back” against the police.

Other supporters, Cecil van Hameren, Alma Knoester, Jennifer Carcueba and Alvin Sarzate, questioned the volume of evidence the prosecution presented after Duterte’s defense said its evidence list had grown to nearly 20,000 items.

They described the number as “unbelievable” and questioned how prosecutors could have gathered and prepared such a large amount of material.

“Magician,” one supporter said, referring to the prosecution.

Others dismissed the evidence as “made up” and “nonsense.”

The prosecution has maintained that its evidence supports the charges against Duterte, while his defense team has raised separate concerns about the volume and organization of the material disclosed in the case.

Delaying tactic

The Duterte Panagutin Network (DPN) and other critics of the former president likewise anticipated his first appearance in court – but they rejected claims from his lawyers about his health and fitness to stand trial.

Although none of the DPN members watched the conference in the gallery, they told me during their protest outside the ICC grounds that they would stay tuned, considering Duterte’s appearance before the court was already a “big win” for the relatives of drug war victims who yearn to hold him accountable.

Fiona Magallanes of Bayan Netherlands and convenor of Panagutin Network Netherlands wrote in a statement that Duterte’s health arguments were his camp’s “delaying tactic”. She said the group hopes to see him appear again when his trial starts, which has been scheduled on November 30.

"Duterte's appearance in court today proves he has been feigning sick all this time. It was all a delaying tactic, delaying justice and delaying healing for the victims’ families,” she said.

Magallanes also said Duterte “looks well,” which she claimed was “exposing the myth that his camp has continuously pushed of a sickly old man supposedly ‘unfit to stand trial.’”

Duterte’s lawyers have argued before the ICC that he suffers from cognitive impairment affecting his memory and ability to participate meaningfully in the proceedings. The Trial Chamber has yet to rule on his fitness to stand trial.

Planned demonstrations

The next status conference, based on the ICC court calendar, is scheduled for October 13. Duterte’s supporters told me they are gearing up for protests leading up to the November 30 trial. The Netherlands-based Duterte Panagutin Network, meanwhile, has already scheduled demonstrations on the first day of the trial. — BAP, GMA News