ICC urged to reclassify Duterte defense response redacting names of 6 Filipino lawyers

The Prosecution has filed a request to the International Criminal Court Pre-Trial Chamber I to reclassify a Defense response regarding the case of former President Rodrigo Duterte, after it redacted the names of six Filipino lawyers concerned in the filing.

In a public redacted version of the “Prosecution’s Request for Reclassification of ‘Defense Response to Prosecution Request ICC-01/21-01/25-406-Conf-Exp”, the Prosecution mentioned the names of Salvador Medialdea, Salvador Panelo, Martin Delgra, Silvestre Bello, Alfredo Lim, and Caesar Dulay.

“The Defense’s purported reason for the redactions – to preserve the ‘dignity’ of the six lawyers at issue in the filing – is insufficient to depart from the principle that proceedings before the International Criminal Court (the 'Court') should be public. It is also unclear how confirming to the public that these lawyers do not work for the Defense team would negatively impact their ‘dignity’, to the extent that it is even a consideration,” the Prosecution said.

“Finally, the redacted information should be made public in order to assuage the fears of potential witnesses and victims and to ensure there is no chilling effect on the Prosecution’s ongoing investigations,” the Prosecution said.

In its prior submissions, the Prosecution argued that the statements and actions of Duterte’s Defense Counsel made the impression that the six lawyers “are members of Mr Duterte’s Defense team.”

Thus, the Prosecution filed a request asking the Defense Counsel to confirm, on the record, that the six lawyers “are not members of Mr Duterte’s defense team in his case before the Court”.

According to the Prosecution, the Defense responded in which it “affirm[ed], confirm[ed], assur[ed] and guarante[ed]” that the six lawyers “‘are not members of Mr Duterte’s defense team in this case.’”

“However, later, in the public redacted version of the Defense Response, the Defense redacted this information from the public,” the Prosecution said.

The Prosecution attempted to resolve the matter through an e-mail to the Defense on March 30, 2026 asking that the Defense request reclassification of the filing as public “as there is no basis for the redactions applied.”

The Defense response

According to the Prosecution, the Defense responded the same day, advising that “the redaction applied is merely to protect the dignity of those lawyers and does not impact on anything of concern unless, of course, it is your intent to humiliate them - which I am sure it is not.”

Further, the Defense argued that the “purpose” of the Prosecution’s Request had been fulfilled as it had been made clear that confidential materials were not made available to the six lawyers, the Prosecution said.

The Defense said that the Prosecution’s “initial premise” that the lawyers were members of the Defense team was “wholly incorrect and unwarranted” and cited to a transcript from the confirmation hearing in which Defense Counsel introduced the six lawyers who were “attending and supporting us today”.

Prosecution’s submission

In its submission, the Prosecution argued that the Defense’s reason for the redactions of sparing the six lawyers alleged humiliation by confirmation to the public that they are not members of Mr Duterte’s Defense team, “is not a justification to derogate from the well-established principle that proceedings before the Court are public.”

“First, the Defense’s argument is unfounded. No explanation is given as to why the truth (that they are not part of Mr Duterte’s Defense team) being public would in some way be humiliating or compromise their dignity. Further, while the principle of publicity of proceedings is not absolute, it should not be departed from to allegedly preserve the self-image of six individuals who the Defense has ‘affirm[ed], confirm[ed], assur[ed] and guarante[ed]’ are unrelated to this case,” it added.

“Finally, it is necessary that this information is made public in order to assuage the fears of potential witnesses and victims and to ensure there is no chilling effect on the Prosecution’s investigations,” the Prosecution said, arguing that the six lawyers are closely connected to Duterte and have been appointed to high-level governmental positions during his presidency.

The document was signed by ICC Deputy Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang dated April 24, 2026.

The Duterte family last February said that six lawyers would attend the ICC confirmation of charges hearings “to ensure that he is properly represented by a Filipino legal team”:

“We thank the legal team for their continued dedication and professionalism during this critical time,” the family said.

In a statement, Panelo maintained that they were not part of Duterte’s defense team..

“The panel of six Filipino lawyers, including the undersigned, requested by the Duterte family to observe the hearing on the confirmation of charges against PRRD at the International Criminal Court at The Hague, and to provide insights, idle needed, to the defense team of PRRD vis-a-vis the Philippine Constitution and other laws of the land that may be relevant to the case, has never claimed to be a part of the of FPRRD’s official defense counsel,” he said.

“In fact, when asked by the mass media representatives covering the event [as to why] we were at The Hague, we responded by saying that we were there to observe the hearing on the confirmation of charges,” Panelo added.

Panelo described the ICC Prosecution’s request to make public the information that he is not part of Duterte’s defense team as “unnecessary and funny.”

“The prosecution obviously must be affected by my critical statements on the decision of the pre-trial chamber’s denial of the defense team’s appeal on the issue of jurisdiction as well as its confirmation of the charges against FPRRD,” Panelo said.

“I stand by my statements on the aforesaid case and making them, not as part of  the FPRRD’s defense team, as I have repeatedly stated in public, but as a serious observer of the ongoing ICC hearing that blatantly violates both our Constitution and the Rome Statue that created [the] International Criminal Court,” he added.

Duterte is currently detained at the Scheveningen Prison, formally known as the Hague Penitentiary Institution, on charges of crimes against humanity.

The ICC on Thursday confirmed the charges of crimes against humanity against Duterte in connection with the killings in his war on drugs when he was mayor of Davao City and when he was President.

Government records show that more than 6,000 drug suspects were killed in police operations, while human rights groups estimate the toll could have reached as high as 30,000, citing alleged unreported cases.

In a 50-page document, the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I committed Duterte to face trial on the charges as confirmed, and ordered the court registrar to transmit the decision confirmation of charges and the record of these proceedings.

Duterte's lawyer, Atty. Nicholas Kaufman, said the defense will prove during the trial before the ICC that the supposed state policy to kill suspects in his administration's war on drugs was "complete fiction."

The trial proper before the ICC against Duterte may begin between October 2026 and February 2027, ICC Assistant to Counsel Kristina Conti said Friday. —KG/VBL, GMA News