ICC prosecutor names Duterte’s co-perpetrators in court

International Criminal Court (ICC) Senior Trial Lawyer Julian Nicholls on Monday mentioned Senators Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa and Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go as some of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s co-perpetrators in alleged killings during his term as mayor of Davao City.

At Duterte’s confirmation of charges hearing, Nicholls presented that Dela Rosa served as Davao City Police Office chief while Go served as Duterte’s aide, special assistant, and important adviser.

He also mentioned former Davao City police chief Vicente Danao, former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Davao Regional Director Dante Gierran, and lawyer Vitaliano Aguirre II.

“As mayor of Davao, Mr. Duterte promised a crackdown on crime. To ‘crackdown’ on crimes and drugs, Mr. Duterte created liquidation squads, death squads made up of Davao City officers as well as non-police officers who were essentially hired hitmen,” he said.

Nicholls said this became known as Duterte’s Davao model.

“And you have to think, it’s a little strange, cracking down on crime by committing the crime of murder,” he said.

He said Duterte did not discuss the crimes alone.

“Of course, Mr. Duterte did not commit these crimes alone. We discuss the perpetrators, including during the mayoral period,” Nicholls said.

According to Nicholls, the DDSW structure during Duterte’s mayoral period had a “hierarchal, pyramid-like” structure where Duterte sat at the top.

“As mayor, he had, of course, the control over the Davao Police… he also had de-facto control,” he said.

Following Duterte were his co-perpetrators, one of whom Nicholls said were tasked to relay instructions from the former president.

“The co-perpetrators had different roles but one of them was to relay orders and instructions down to Mr. Duterte to the DDS handlers and also to relay reports back to Mr. Duterte,” he said.

Nicholls said that next were the “DDS Handlers.”

Meanwhile, ranked lowest were the DDS members, composed of police officers or non-police hitmen, who carried out the murders.

“These members at the bottom were often recruited because they had a debt or owed something to Mr. Duterte or the police. Therefore, they could be controlled,” he said.

“And those members at the very bottom were at risk themselves. Because if they did not follow orders or if they tried to leave the DDS. They could be tortured or killed or both,” he added.

However, Duterte’s legal counsel Nicholas Kaufman said Duterte’s speeches actually contained “exonerating evidence” which supported the use of force only in self-defense.

During his earlier speech at the confirmation of charges hearing, Kaufman cited one of the former President’s remarks in which he said:

“To our police officers and other officials, do your job and you will have the unwavering support of the Office of the President. I will be with you all the way. Abuse your authority, and there will be a hell to pay, for you will have become worse than criminality itself.”

“It’s not enough to state that since the former President made those extremely inflammatory statements and deaths occurred, that he must be criminally responsible for those fatalities,” Kaufman said.

“At this stage of the proceedings, the prosecution must show substantial grounds that the former President actually desired and foresaw that people would be killed as a result of his incendiary language,” he added.

The ICC Office of the Prosecutor charged Duterte with three counts of crimes against humanity (murder and attempted murder) in his implementation of his anti-narcotics campaign.

The next hearings are scheduled for February 24, 26, and 27.

According to government records, around 6,200 drug suspects were killed during Duterte’s anti-drug operations.

Human rights organizations, however, estimate the number could reach 30,000, citing unreported related killings. — JMA/RF, GMA Integrated News