Rody’s defenseVice President Sara Duterte is a lawyer, and judging from her latest statements, she sees her father the former president proceeding to trial before the International Criminal Court. ICC judges have allowed Rodrigo Duterte to skip attendance at the hearings for the confirmation of charges and his continued detention. Yesterday, as the defense took its turn in the confirmation of charges at the ICC, Kaufman argued that there’s no smoking gun proving Duterte to be directly responsible for the killings. In particular, he argued that the anti-drug campaign did not target the civilian population in the Philippines, but mainly crime suspects. Duterte’s defense team, in their opening statements at the ICC, said his public pronouncements threatening to kill drug personalities were meant chiefly to instill fear.

Source: Philippine Star February 26, 2026 23:55 UTC