Palace denounces lawyer's claim of Marcos neutralizing Duterte legacy as false

Malacañang on Monday night took exception to the remarks before the International Criminal Court pre-trial chamber of former President Rodrigo Duterte's defense lawyer, who said that President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. sought to neutralize his predecessor and his legacy.

ICC defense lawyer Nicholas Kaufman at the first hearing of the confirmation of charges against Duterte referred to a phone call in which one of the parties boasted that he could "funnel" witnesses to the ICC while ensuring Marcos's plausible deniability.

"Kaufman has the temerity to accuse President Marcos of trying to neutralize Duterte's legacy. That is preposterous," Palace Press Officer Usec. Claire Castro said when sought for comment.

"He seems to be the one suffering from severe cognitive impairment, and not his client, because he tremendously forgets the timeline, since the crimes against humanity cases were filed before the International Criminal Court in 2017, when President Marcos, Jr. was still a private citizen," she added.

"Kaufman does not offer a clear defense for his client’s alleged extrajudicial killings, which reportedly happened during Duterte's time as mayor," Castro said.

"In addition, one of the counsels, Silvestre Bello III, admitted that Duterte killed someone by throwing him out of a helicopter. He should learn the facts of his case rather than focus on political rhetoric," she added.

During his opening statement at Duterte’s confirmation-of-charges hearing, Kaufman cited a purported document containing a transcript of a telephone call among four parties, whose identities he did not disclose.

He alleged that one of the parties in the phone call supposedly managed a scheme to influence witnesses in the ICC case.

“One of these parties was boasting—boasting about how he was acting as the silent partner of President BBM (Marcos), managing a scheme to funnel witnesses to this court while all the time ensuring that he could guarantee President BBM’s plausible deniability,” Kaufman said.

“So it is indeed the defense’s case that President Marcos Jr. set out to neutralize Rodrigo Duterte and his legacy,” he added. –NB, GMA Integrated News