On the fourth and final day of the International Criminal Court's (ICC) confirmation of charges hearing against former President Rodrigo Duterte, victims’ representative Atty. Gilbert Andres made a forceful statement disputing defense claims that children killed in the war on drugs were incidental casualties. Andres told judges the deaths of minors and other victims were deliberate and part of a broader pattern of unlawful killings.
Andres highlighted that nearly 3,967 government‑acknowledged drug war deaths during Duterte’s administration went without criminal prosecution of police officers responsible, asserting this indicated a failure of accountability at the highest levels.
“The defense asserted that, purportedly, Duterte’s administration is ‘intolerant of rotten police officers.’ This is not true,” Andres said, noting that only a small fraction of cases were investigated despite thousands of deaths recorded in official reports.
He also rebutted narratives portraying child victims as mere “collateral damage,” emphasizing that some children were “murdered systematically” in the context of the anti‑drug campaign. Andres told the chamber that the prosecution’s case shows the killings were widespread and systematic, affecting entire communities rather than isolated individuals.
Andres argued that detainees and victims’ families continue to live in fear, stigmatized and traumatized by the drug war’s legacy, and urged judges to confirm the charges so the full truth can be brought to light and victims can seek justice.
The defense, led by Atty. Nicholas Kaufman has countered these points by challenging the sufficiency of evidence, particularly regarding the prosecution’s claims about minors. Judges will now consider whether the evidence presented is strong enough to proceed to a full trial.
