FILE PHOTO: A general view of the International Criminal Court, in The Hague, Netherlands, March 12, 2025. International Criminal Court prosecutors and the defence team of former President Rodrigo Duterte, who is accused of crimes against humanity in connection with the deaths from his administration’s war against illegal drugs, have agreed on the basic facts pertaining to his identity and the smallest unit of government in the country in a document dated Sept. 1, 2025. - Reuters
MANILA: International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutors and the defence team of former President Rodrigo Duterte agreed on basic facts pertaining to his identity and the smallest unit of government in the country.
This was provided in the “Joint Prosecution and Defence submission on agreed facts” dated Sept. 1 published on ICC website both signed by deputy prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang and Duterte’s legal counsel Nicholas Kaufman.
On Apr. 17, the Chamber instructed the prosecution and the defence to “liaise with a view of reaching an agreement on alleged facts” with a deadline on September 1.
On Aug. 22, the Prosecution then emailed the defence proposing an initial 10 facts for agreement, but the latter only agreed to four facts in an email response on Aug. 26.
These four facts are:
– Rodrigo Roa Duterte was born on 28 March 1945 in Maasin, Southern Leyte, the Republic of the Philippines (“Philippines”);
– Rodrigo Roa Duterte is a national of the Philippines
– “PRRD” is commonly used in the Philippines to refer to the initials of “President Rodrigo Roa Duterte;” and
– A barangay is the smallest political and administrative unit in the Philippines, which serves as the primary planning and implementing unit of government policies, plans, programs and projects.
The document said both prosecution and defense have agreed to resume efforts to agree further facts “once the issue of [REDACTED] has been resolved.”
At least 6,000 lives were killed during the war on drugs during Duterte’s term, according to official government data. But human rights watchdogs and the ICC prosecutor estimated the death toll to be between 12,000 and 30,000 from 2016 to 2019.
On Mar. 12, Duterte was arrested in Ninoy Aquino International Airport and was detained at the Villamor Air Base the same day.
He is now being detained in The Hague. Duterte had his pretrial on Mar. 14, while his confirmation of charges will be held on Sept. 23, before which he could appeal for an interim release. - The Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
