ICC probe on Duterte’s drug war may be ‘final card’ for Marcos administration as rift deepens

The ICC’s investigation is focused on extrajudicial killings, and the Marcos administration’s stance on cooperating with the ICC remains unclear

Reading Time:4 minutes

Supporters of Philippine lawmaker France Castro hold up wanted posters of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Photo: AFP

Published: 12:00pm, 20 Sep 2024

The International Criminal Court could soon issue an arrest warrant for former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, according to a lawyer working on the case, with new Congressional testimony potentially adding to their evidence of alleged crimes against humanity committed as part of his anti-drug campaign.

International Criminal Court (ICC) assistant to counsel Maria Kristina Conti told This Week in Asia that “we hope a warrant would be issued within the year”, but noted its “implementation is another matter”.

Conti, who is working with the ICC to find witnesses willing to testify against the former president and officials in his administration, said that despite the court’s lack of updates, similar cases suggest the ICC will move forward quickly.

“We have the idea that things have been kept in confidence because there is a probability of arrest – because the ICC recently have been announcing requests for and issuance of warrants in contexts where it was impossible to enforce,” Conti said on Thursday.

She noted that the chief ICC prosecutor on Duterte’s case, Karim Khan, had already filed applications for arrest warrants against other world leaders – Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin – for alleged war crimes.

Conti said the probes into Netanyahu and Putin moved quickly due to an “element of urgency” because those conflicts are ongoing.