Why only 78 victims in crimes against humanity raps vs. Duterte? Ex-ICC judge explains

Although human rights organizations estimate that up to 30,000 may have died in the Duterte administration’s drug war, only 78 victims and 49 instances of extrajudicial killings were cited by the prosecution during the proceedings before the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Former ICC judge Raul Pangalangan said this is “within the realm of prosecutorial discretion.” 

“That’s within the realm of prosecutorial discretion. They will have to identify, di ba crimes are classified into three categories: during the mayoral period, during the presidential period, and the rest were the barangay clearance operations. That is part of their strategy and I think, I’m just speculating kasi prosecutor is completely separate from chambers, that will depend on the evidence and the witnesses available,” he told GMA Integrated News. 

“So ang icha-charge nila yung incident kung saan mayroon silang ebidensya. That is why if you look at the document containing the charges, there are three categories and for each category they will have I think nine incidents for Category 1, and I think another nine for Category 2, and so on. Ayun ang ipo-prove nila,” Pangalangan added. 

(So they will file charges for the incidents that they have evidence for. That is why if you look at the document containing the charges, there are three categories and for each category they will have, I think, nine incidents for Category 1, and I think another nine for Category 2, and so on. That is what they will prove.) 

The ICC Prosecutor has charged former President Rodrigo Duterte with three counts of crimes against humanity for murder and attempted murder in his implementation of his anti-narcotics campaign.

The counts of crimes against humanity cover killings since he was Davao City mayor up to his term as President of the Philippines. 

While government records showed that over 6,000 drug suspects were killed in police operations, human rights organizations estimate the death toll to be at 30,000 due to unreported incidents. 

Earlier, ICC deputy prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang noted that the 49 incidents cited “are merely a fraction of the overall criminality that resulted from Mr. Duterte's so-called war on drugs.” 

“In the beginning ang haba-haba ng mga document containing the charges. Because they were like quite excited to prosecute the cases in the beginning,” said Pangalangan. 

(In the beginning, the documents containing the charges were quite long. Because they were like, quite excited to prosecute the cases in the beginning.) 

“And then over time, they realized this is too much for the prosecution. You’re giving them 50 pages to prove. So you know, you have to trim it down a little. So it has become a bit more reasonable these days.” — JMA, GMA Integated News