Duterte, 11 others accused of crimes

against humanity before ICC

By: Nikko Dizon - Reporter / @NikkoDizonINQ
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 03:54 PM April 24, 2017

The lawyer of self-confessed Davao Death Squad hit

man Edgar Matobato on Monday filed a complaint
before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The
Hague against President Duterte and 11 of his loyal
allies for committing crimes against humanity.

In his 77-page complaint, lawyer Jude Josue Sabio cited

the “continuing mass murder” in the Philippines as
shown by the thousands of Filipinos killed in Duterte’s
severe anti-criminality and anti-drug campaigns that
began when he was still mayor of Davao City and
continued now that he is the country’s chief executive.

Sabio also wrote to ICC chief prosecutor Fatou

Bensouda, appealing:
“Your favorable action on this matter would not only
serve the noble ends of international criminal justice, but
would also be the beginning of the end of this dark,
obscene, murderous and evil era in the Philippines.”
It is the first time in the country’s history that a President
has been accused of committing crimes against
humanity.
From the time he was mayor until he became President,
Mr. Duterte has been “repeatedly, unchangingly, and
continuously” committed mass murders “constituting
crimes against humanity through murder, Sabio said in
his complaint.
“Crimes against humanity are crimes of universal
jurisdiction, but where a State like the Philippines fails to
assume such universal jurisdiction for crimes against
humanity continuously being committed in its very own
territory, then the International Criminal Court will have
to intervene into a situation that is grave by any human
standard,” Sabio said.
“The grim statistics of more than 7,000 drug-related
killings cannot be anything but grave, especially if
viewed in the context of just seven months since
Rodrigo Duterte became the President
, compared to only about 3,000 committed during the
20-year Marcos regime. These more than 7,000 drug-
related killings translate to roughly 1,000 killings per
month.
“The impunity is grave, as shown by the ‘repeated,
unchanging and continuing’ extra-judicial or summary
executions, with unrelenting impunity, ever since the
time that President Duterte was still Mayor of Davao City
claiming 1,400 deaths, more or less, under his Davao
Death Squad and later on in the national level in the war
on drugs after 30 June 2016 waged by the very same
person, no less than President Duterte, who formed,
created, managed, headed and masterminded the
Davao Death Squad in Davao City when he was still a
Mayor.
“To end this impunity, the International Criminal Court is
being resorted to as a court of last resort, given the
gravity of the current human rights disaster in the
Philippines,” Sabio said.
The complaint against President Duterte and 11 others filed by lawyer Jude Sabio,
counsel of self confessed Davao Death Squad hitman Edgar Matobato, is received
by the International Criminal Court (ICC) Office of the Prosecutor in The Hague.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Sabio said any investigation under the current
administration would be futile because those in
government with the legal mandate to do so cannot be
expected to do their jobs because of a reason “so
simple to see.”
Most of the President’s men “have announced in public
their full support” for his war on drugs and “defended the
extra-judicial or summary executions as part of
legitimate police drug operations,” Sabio said.
Sabio’s complaint relies heavily on the accounts of
Matobato, his fellow DDS members Arturo Lascañas
and Ernesto Avasola, the reports of Amnesty
International, Human Rights Watch; Fr. Amado
Picardal’s report titled “The Victims of the Davao Death
Squad: Consolidated Report 1998-2015”; and media
reports that quoted Mr. Duterte and his administration
officials.
Aside from Mr. Duterte, the following are included in the
complaint for allegedly aiding and abetting the mass
murder taking place in the Philippines, naming two
police superintendents who have supposedly been
tasked by President Duterte to handle the death squad
operations in the war against drugs nationwide:
· Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre- a law school
classmate of Mr. Duterte, Aguirre has been quoted as
saying that drug addicts have no human rights because
they are not human in support of the government’s anti-
illegal drugs campaign. Aguirre was also the lawyer of
Bienvenido Laud, the owner of the quarry where the
victims of the Davao Death Squad were said to be
buried.
· Philippine National Police (PNP) Director Ronald de
la Rosa- tagged by Matobato and Lascañas as having
participated in certain DDS operations when Mr. Duterte
was still city mayor. Sabio said that de la Rosa knows of
the activities of the national level death squads killing
suspected drug personalities in his capacity as PNP
chief.
· Supt. Edilberto Leonardo- now with the Manila
Police District and used to be with the Davao Regional
Police. Leonardo reportedly helped “design and operate
the reward system” the Duterte administrations war
against drugs.
· Supt. Royina Garma- for violations in the
implementation of Oplan Tokhang and for the killings in
her area of responsibility as head of the PNP Criminal
Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Region 7.
· House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez- for his
statements that “clearly incite violence and mass
murder, or further in a certain way the criminal purpose
of President Duterte.”
· Former Interior and Local Government Sec. Ismael
Sueno- for allowing the police and village captains who
were under his administrative control to implement
Oplan Tokhang “which led to the discrimination and
vilification of those identified as drug users and dealers,
and their eventual murder, persecution, mental torture,
and incarceration.”
· SPO4 Sanson “Sonny” Buenaventura – for handing
out the reward money to the DDS hitmen and for his
direct involvement in the death squad.
· National Bureau of Investigation Director Dante
Gierran- for failing to investigate the “widespread and
systematic” killings under the administration, thus
facilitating the continued commission of the crime.
· Solicitor General Jose Calida – for promising to
defend policemen accused of summary killings “if the
killings are committed as part of the war on drugs.”
· Senator Richard Gordon – for concluding that the
extrajudicial killings by the PNP in the campaign against
drugs were not state-sponsored, as the Senate chair of
the Committee on Justice and Human Rights and
sponsor of the Senate Committee Report No. 18.
· Senator Alan Peter Cayetano – for “aiding and
abetting the killings brought by the war on drugs through
his speeches and public pronouncements… denying the
extra judicial killings and encouraging” President
Duterte’s war on drugs.
In his complaint, Sabio said there was “sufficient factual
and legal basis” for Bensouda’s office to confirm with the
ICC Pre-Trial Chamber that there is enough evidence to
place President Duterte and his senior administration
officials under trial for committing crimes against
humanity.
The judges of the Pre-Trial Chamber can order the
arrest of Mr. Duterte and all those named in the
complaint if they find there are reasonable grounds that
they have committed crimes within the ICC jurisdiction.
Read more: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/155253/duterte-11-others-
accused-crimes-humanity-intl-criminal-court#ixzz4fEkn2tfd