Sara Duterte asks for proof of 30k drug war deaths

THE HAGUE— Vice President Sara Duterte has questioned the widely cited figure of 30,000 drug war deaths, saying that the 181 pieces of evidence the prosecution presented to the International Criminal Court (ICC) fall short of proving the scale of alleged extrajudicial killings during former President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs.

Police records showed that drug war deaths totaled about 6,000, while human rights groups claimed that the death toll—including vigilante killings—was as high as 30,000.

“Dahil laging paulit-ulit ng media yun, ilang taon. ‘War on drugs, thousands killed.’ ‘War on drugs, 30,000 killed.’ And yet, nandito na tayo ngayon sa ICC and there's just 181 pieces of evidence,” she told reporters on Friday during the gathering near the Hague Penitentiary Institution organized by supporters for the former president's 80th birthday.

(The figures have been repeated by the media for several years. And yet, we are here at the ICC, and there's just 181 pieces of evidence.)

“So, nasaan na ang 30,000 pieces of evidence? (So, where are the 30,000 pieces of evidence?) This is not a case for the ICC. These were not even cases in the Philippines. Not a single case,'' she said.

“How can you prove systematic killing of 30,000 victims if you do not have the names of 30,000 victims? ...and yet we have 181 pieces of evidence. And we don't even have 50 victims. This is 43 counts of murder, not even 50. So, where is the system there of killing thousands? Sorry. Ang bobo yung abogado nila (Their lawyer is stupid).”

Atty. Kristina Conti of the National Union of People’s Lawyers, who represents several victims, responded that it does not require naming every victim to establish that Duterte committed crimes against humanity.

“In crimes against humanity, you do not need to name all the victims,” Conti said during a press conference of Duterte’s critics on his birthday.

"Siguro magandang tingnan ni VP Sara—and this is perfect—what happened to the Holocaust?” Conti added, referring to the Nuremberg trials.

(It’s better for VP Sara to check—and this is perfect—what happened to the Holocaust?)

“Sa Nuremberg trials, they did not need to name all those killed. The gist of this case of crimes against humanity is the manner of killing—widespread and systematic—could be established by the testimony of even just one person."

Conti also cited Duterte's controversial 2016 statement, in which he compared Adolf Hitler's efforts to exterminate Jews to his campaign to eradicate the drug problem.

She clarified that the 181 pieces of evidence referenced by the vice president are preliminary documents.

“Sana lang kay Vice President Sara, tutal may oras naman po kayo, pag-aralan nyo po nang mas malalim yung po ikinakaso dun sa tatay nyo (Vice President Sara, since you have the time, study closely the charges against your father). Clarification: the 181 pieces of evidence talk about preliminary matters. For example, what language will the testimonies be in? Do you have documents? How many pages are these documents? Hindi pa ito yung mismong ebidensya. And there will be more,” Conti said.

The confirmation of charges will only take place on September 23, but Conti believes the ICC prosecutor is now ''trial ready.''

“For them to come out with these 181 pieces of information about the prosecution within, I think, 4 days, 3 days upon order of the court means that they're trial ready,” Conti said.

According to Conti, Sara Duterte's demand for a list of the 30,000 fatalities was an attempt to divert attention away from accountability.

“Yung paghahanap ng pangalan ay pagbaling ng issue,” Conti said.

(Finding names is a way to divert the issue.)

“The real question is: Guilty ba si Duterte? Inutos ba niya ang mga patayan sa kanyang kapasidad bilang founder and leader of the Davao Death Squad na nagpatuloy ang patayan sa Davao City habang mayor siya at sa buong Pilipinas habang presidente siya? Yun ang esensya ng kaso sa kanya.''

(The real question is: Is Duterte guilty? Did he order the killings in his capacity as the founder and leader of the Davao Death Squad, and did the killings continue when he was Davao City mayor and later as president of the Philippines? That's the essence of the case against him.)

In an exclusive interview with GMA Integrated News, ICC spokesperson Fadi El Abdallah expounded on the legal framework for a crime against humanity.

“If there is a plan that involves a widespread or systematic recurrent attack against a civilian population, even one murder may be considered a crime against humanity,” El Abdallah said.

He added that for the time being, “there's only the charge of murder” against Duterte, with 43 incidents used “for the purpose of this arrest warrant.”

“They [the ICC] took the 43 incidents as a sample for the purpose of this arrest warrant to decide if there is a reasonable ground to believe that there has been a widespread or systematic attack against the civilian population and if there were allegedly murders in that context,” El Abdallah said.

“They took it as a sample, but that's not all that the prosecutor had actually requested. Now, for more details, we will discuss it during the process.” —VBL, GMA Integrated News