Former Supreme Court associate justice Antonio Carpio urges moral reckoning as ICC hears Rodrigo Duterteโs drug war case over alleged crimes against humanity. (Image by Wikimedia Creative Commons)
MANILA, Philippines โย Former Supreme Court associate justice Antonio Carpio is calling for a โmoral reckoningโ as the International Criminal Court (ICC) presses ahead with hearings against former president Rodrigo Duterte over his bloody war on drugs.
This week, the ICCโs Pre-Trial Chamber I began hearing evidence in the case, where Duterte faces three counts of crimes against humanity tied to thousands of alleged extrajudicial killings when he was Davao City mayor and later president. Prosecutors and lawyers representing victims argued that Duterte knew of โ and enabled โ what they described as a โwidespread and systematicโ campaign that largely targeted poor drug users and small-time dealers.
In an interview with ANC, Carpio said the proceedings should push Filipinos to examine their own conscience.
โHow come we allowed this? Killing is the worst thing that you can do as a leader. And as people, how can we justify this morally? I think we have to really go through a self-examination of conscience here,โ he said.
During the hearings, Duterteโs repeated โkillโ rhetoric โ delivered in speeches since 2016 โ resurfaced, reopening wounds for victimsโ families. He had publicly told police to โshoot to killโ suspects who resisted arrest, statements critics said amounted to a green light for lethal force.
Duterte has denied authorizing unlawful killings. In a 2024 congressional hearing, he maintained that the anti-drug campaign aimed to protect โthe innocent and the defenseless.โ
At The Hague, his former chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo brushed off the violent language as mere โblusterโ and โhyperboleโ meant to intimidate criminals. Defense lawyer Nicholas Kaufman echoed the argument, framing Duterteโs statements as rhetorical rather than operational orders.
But victimsโ counsel Joel Butuyan pushed back before the ICC, saying Duterteโs words fueled a culture of violence.
โThe virus of impunity that he spread all over the country has become a cancer that metastasized, infecting millions of Filipinos,โ Butuyan told the tribunal.
Despite the international case, Duterteโs supporters continue to defend the crackdown, insisting that many deaths occurred because suspects โnanlaban,โ or fought back. Carpio rejected this justification, calling mass killings โworse than any graft and corruption,โ and raising questions about Duterteโs motives.
โDid he profit from this? Thatโs still the big question,โ Carpio said.
As the ICC hearings move forward, the case is shaping up not just as a legal battle in The Hague, but as a defining test of how a nation confronts its past.
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