MANILA – Former President Rodrigo Duterte’s lead counsel appeared to have “no knowledge” of who the victims of his war on drugs are, a lawyer accredited by the International Criminal Court (ICC) said.
Atty. Joel Butuyan made the pronouncement after Duterte’s lead counsel, Nicholas Kaufman, requested the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber (PTC) 1 to “limit the range” of allowed documents to be submitted by victims as proof of their identity to either only the national ID or a Philippine passport.
If neither is unavailable, Kaufman suggested that the court accept “in a staggered fashion” valid IDs identified by the Social Security System (SSS).
“Mr. Kaufman’s comment on the IDs of the victims comes from someone who has no knowledge at all of the Philippine situation,” Butuyan said in a statement.
“It comes from someone who is totally ignorant of the kind of people who were mass murdered by his client, Mr. Duterte,” he added.
Butayan also told Kaufman that the victims come from the “poorest of the poor,” people who likely do not have passports, SSS IDs, or any license.
Butuyan pointed out that the IDs being requested count as documents that are “badges of wealth and privilege in the Philippines.”
According to him, Kaufman must have only been speaking from his experience as a British citizen who has a lot of government-issued IDs.
“The victims’ families have already lost loved ones. For them to be refused recognition as victims of the murderous Mr. Duterte, because of their lack of government-issued IDs, is to make them suffer grave injustice twice over,” Butuyan said.
Butuyan also called as “abhorrent move” Kaufman’s demand that his choice of counsel for the victims should be the one to be followed.
Kaufman suggested that the Office of Public Counsel for Victims should be the one representing the war on drugs victims.
“It is totally abhorrent that Mr. Duterte, speaking through Mr. Kaufman, wants his choice to be followed on who should stand as representative of the very people he mass murdered,” Butuyan said.
He added: “No, Mr. Kaufman, the victims must have a say on who should speak for them, and not you who speaks for the mass murderer.”
Duterte is currently detained by the ICC in The Hague after he was arrested for crimes against humanity he allegedly committed during his administration’s war against drugs.
The drug war led to at least 6,000 people dead, with human rights groups reporting at least 20,000. (Zacarian Sarao © Philippine Daily Inquirer)
