THE HAGUE, Netherlands – As former president Rodrigo Duterte’s defense team refuted allegations of his responsibility in the widespread and systematic killings in his war on drugs on Thursday, February 26, surviving families and their supporters said the defense belittled their losses.

“Nakikita po namin na talagang minaliit po ang aming pagkatao. Kumbaga, parang ni-walang halaga ang aming mga mahal sa buhay. Sinasabi na numero lang. Parang hindi binigyan ng halaga ‘yung aming paghihirap, ‘yung aming pagdurusa,” said Llore Pasco, a mother of two men who were killed in Duterte’s drug war, after the hearing concluded on Thursday.

(We saw our humanity belittled, as if our loved ones meant nothing – just numbers, and our suffering meaningless.)

Duterte’s lead defense counsel, Nicholas Kaufman, had the floor for the entirety of Day 3 of the confirmation of charges hearing.

Among Kaufman’s arguments was that Duterte’s policy did not target the larger civilian population, but rather a “defined subgroup.”

“Doon nasaktan nga ang mga kaanak ng biktima eh, kasi parang na-minimize mo ‘yung pagkamatay ng kanilang kaanak. Sabihin mo, ‘kaunti lang naman ‘yun ah. Ilang percent lang naman ‘yun ah,’” said Neri Colmenares, human rights lawyer and former Bayan Muna representative.

(That’s where the victims’ families felt hurt, because it was like trivializing the deaths of their family members. It was like saying, “It wasn’t that many. It was only a small percentage.)

Sheerah Escudero, who lost her brother Ephraim in the drug war, said the defense’s arguments do not change the fact that many people died during Duterte’s drug war.

“We have only one goal, which is nothing but truth, and everything that the defense laid out will not affect our call for justice,” she said.

Kaufman said in a separate interview that he did not make light of victims’ suffering, but that he had a job to do.

‘A brilliant job’

Duterte’s former chief presidential legal counsel, Salvador Panelo, opined that the defense “shattered” the prosecution’s allegations, a view shared by the ex-president’s supporters.

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“I think Attorney Kaufman really did a brilliant job. He managed to refute all of the allegations held with respect to the presentation of the prosecution,” said Alvin Sarzate, a pro-Duterte vlogger who followed the proceedings during the livestream.

Sarzate said the defense showed that the prosecution’s arguments were “rehashed peddled allegations” from critics. But while he is hopeful that the case will not proceed to trial, he is skeptical of the chances the ICC will side with the defense.

“If they are really going to embody… being [in] The Hague, the center of international justice, [and] they are anchoring everything with respect to deliberation in the law, then they should dismiss it outright. But however if this is going to be revealed as one of the politically motivated attacks on the Dutertes using the International Criminal Court, then most likely it will push to trial,” he said.

Malcolm Conlan, a British supporter of Duterte, also has doubts that the ICC will support the defense, as “most” defense requests have been rejected. Among the rejected requests were for Duterte’s interim release, and the disqualification of external representatives for victims.

Conlan also recognized that deaths occurred during the drug war, but added that he felt that the former president’s words were wrongly taken too literally.

“I entirely agree from what I’ve heard from Attorney Kaufman today, that there is a lot of rhetoric in his (Duterte’s) speeches, hyperbole, you know, when he’s talking about putting people in the river to be eaten by the fishes, he doesn’t literally mean that,” he told Rappler.

“I do believe, unfortunately, that some people have taken the law into their own hands and as a result of that, there have been unfortunate deaths. But again, he’s now been brought to an international court… without Philippine jurisdiction, and that’s something that concerns me,” he added.

Lawyers react

Despite the Duterte group’s confidence that the defense made a good case, Colmenares opined that the court will side with the argument that the killings were widespread and planned, with Duterte as the commander.

“Tingin ko, hindi makukumbinsi ang korte na yung mga nangyari pala na patayan na libo-libo sa Pilipinas dahil masama lang ang gising ng mga pulis sa araw na ‘yun,” he said.

(I believe that the court will not be convinced that the thousands of killings that happened in the Philippines happened because the police woke up on the wrong side of the bed those days)

“No, it was an order. There was a pattern. There was a public vilification of the targets,” he added.

The prosecution, common legal representatives of victims, and the defense are set to give their closing statements on Friday, February 27, the last stretch of the four-day confirmation of charges hearing. The Pre-Trial Chamber is expected to come out with a decision to proceed to trial within 60 days. – Rappler.com