Trillanes says he sought ICC intervention vs. Duterte’s drug war ahead of Reds

Former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV on Thursday said he and former Magdalo congressman Gary Alejano sought the intervention of the International Criminal Court in connection with the Duterte administration's war on drugs ahead of other groups, including the Reds.

In a statement, Trillanes said the communication they filed in June 2017 adopted and supplemented the one earlier filed by lawyer Jude Sabio in April of the same year.

"Together, these two communications formed the primary basis for the ICC’s initiation of its preliminary examination in February 2018," he said.

He claimed that leftist groups and lawyer Rommel Bagares filed theirs only around mid- to late 2018.

"During the first two years of the Duterte administration, the CPP/NPA/NDF [were] in a power sharing/coalition government with Duterte. In fact, there were at least three Cabinet secretaries from the CPP/NPA/NDF," Trillanes said.

He was referring to Left-recommended former National Anti-Poverty Commission lead convenor Liza Maza, former Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Judy Taguiwalo, and former Department of Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael "Paeng" Mariano.

"It is clear that when the CPP/NPA/NDF were still in bed with [President Rodrigo] Duterte, they countenanced Duterte’s extrajudicial killings," Trillanes said.

"During those times, they never called out Duterte for the EJKs and, therefore, did not file a case with the ICC. It was only when the peace talks [were] eventually scrapped by Duterte that they started raising issues against him," he added.

But CPP founding chairman Joma Sison previously said the Reds were never allied with Duterte despite the said appointments.

Sabio's withdrawal from ICC case

Meanwhile, Trillanes said the withdrawal of Sabio from the ICC last January "merely removed himself as a stakeholder" and did not affect the case filed in any way.

Sabio, the lawyer of self-confessed hitman Edgar Matobato, filed the first complaint against Duterte at the ICC in connection with the administration's controversial anti-illegal drugs campaign in 2017.

The ICC prosecutor started a preliminary examination of Sabio’s allegations regarding the anti-illegal drugs campaign in February 2018.

Weeks later, President Rodrigo Duterte announced that the Philippines was withdrawing from the ICC, a move that was challenged by opposition senators before the Supreme Court.

In August 2018, activists and families of eight victims of the government's war on drugs filed another complaint. They were represented by the National Union of People's Lawyers.

The country's exit from the ICC took effect in March 2019 but the preliminary examination continued.

Just this week, the ICC's Office of the Prosecutor said there is "reasonable basis" to believe that crimes against humanity were committed in the Duterte administration's war on drugs.

The Palace said it was "legally erroneous" and dismissed it as "political propaganda." — RSJ, GMA News