Family members of individuals killed during former President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-drug campaign now have a formal role in his war crimes proceedings at the International Criminal Court, after 539 victims were authorized to participate in the case.
The ICC identified three Filipino and international lawyers — Joel Butuyan, Gilbert Andres, and Paolina Massidda of the court’s Office of Public Counsel for Victims — to serve jointly as common legal representatives for the authorized participants.
Human rights group Amnesty International Philippines called the development a turning point for those who have spent years seeking accountability. “Families of victims and survivors of the ‘war on drugs’ have waited far too long for justice,” said Ritz Lee Santos III, the organization’s director.
The authorization came alongside a landmark ruling on Wednesday by the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber, which confirmed three charges against Duterte connected to killings carried out both during his tenure as Davao City mayor and later as president. Among the five named victims in the case is 17-year-old Kian delos Santos.
Santos said the scale of the anti-drug campaign and what Amnesty views as domestic institutions’ unwillingness to pursue accountability made international intervention necessary. “The ICC is acting because the authorities would not,” he said, arguing that perpetrators of unlawful killings had long “operated with impunity.”
The ICC Office of the Prosecutor welcomed the charge confirmation, saying it “validates the Prosecution’s work in establishing substantial grounds to believe that Mr Duterte bears responsibility for the crimes charged.” Prosecutors also committed to pursuing accountability without delay.
A day before the Pre-Trial Chamber’s ruling, the ICC Appeals Chamber rejected a jurisdictional challenge filed by Duterte’s legal team, which had argued the Philippines’ 2019 withdrawal from the Rome Statute removed the court’s authority over the case.
Duterte is required under Article 63 of the Rome Statute to be present when the trial proceeds.
Santos described the confirmation of charges as “a historic moment for victims and international justice,” and said it signals that those accused of crimes against humanity — including widespread and systematic murder — are not beyond the reach of international law.
