Rodrigo Duterte’s own words used against him at ICC pre-trial hearing

MANILA, Philippines – Former president Rodrigo Duterte was absent on the first day of the confirmation of charges hearing against him at the International Criminal Court, but his previous statements underscore the lethal scope of the drug war he spearheaded.

Duterte faces charges of crimes against humanity in connection with the drug war that authorities report started when he was mayor of Davao City and, when he became Philippine president, had killed at least 6,200 people in police operations by May 2022. Human rights groups estimate the total toll, including vigilante-style killings, may reach 30,000.

Deputy ICC prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang, in his team’s opening statement, quoted from several of Duterte’s public speeches and interviews to prove that his “criminal plan and his intent were no secret.”

According to the deputy prosecutor, Duterte “not only shared them with his co-perpetrators and members of the death squad, but also made them abundantly clear to the general public in the numerous public statements that he made time and again.”

The quotes mentioned by the prosecution team are just a few of the many Duterte has uttered over the course of his presidency. Here are some of the them, as mentioned by the ICC prosecution team.

“The operation of the police was legitimate, and all was legal and the order and policy of the city government to shoot armed and dangerous criminals stand…. The shoot-to-kill order is a legitimate tool of the government to combat lawlessness.” 

Duterte said in 2013, in response to criticisms of his shoot-to-kill order as Davao City mayor, according to a report by the Philippine Daily Inquirer

“For as long as there is the power to pardon sa Constitution, ’yan ang weapon ko against crime. Mag-massacre kayo ng isang daan, isang daan din kayo, eh di pardon lahat eh. Restored to full political and civil rights plus a promotion to boot. Basta gano’n mga — lalo na, high profile.”

TRANSLATED: As long as there is the power to pardon in the Constitution, that’s my weapon against crime. If you massacre a hundred people, and there are a hundred of you, then I’ll pardon all of you. You’ll be restored to full political and civil rights, plus a promotion on top of that. That’s how it is — especially for high-profile cases.

Duterte told soldiers in Compostela Valley on September 30, 2016 

“In Davao, I will really kill you. If I become president, you will all get wiped out. I will order your execution within 24 hours.”

Duterte said in a television interview on November 1, 2015.

“Now, in Leyte, they said that there was a rubout; and the police, they have a shootout. Sabi ko (I said), ‘I believe the police.’ Why? Because they are my subordinates. The story of the people whom I give the orders to operate is what I ordered them to do. Kaya ito sila, poprotektahan ko (That’s why I will protect them). And if there’s somebody who will go to jail, it’s me. I will assume full, legal responsibility. If it fails, they’d say that I’d rot in jail, so be it. No worry, I’m old, just a few years.

Going to jail to save your country. The human rights guys, European, they say that, ‘This guy, this mayor was heard that he would kill the criminals…’ Putang —. When has, when has it been a crime to say, I will kill all the criminals who will harm our people? When was it wrong to say, do not destroy the next generation of my country, or else I will kill you? What is wrong with that?”

Duterte said during the 80th National Bureau of Investigation founding anniversary on November 14, 2016

“And I must admit that a third of the killings really happened during police encounters. And I know it because I am not trying to said pull my own chair. But in Davao I used to do it personally. Just to show to the guys that, if I can do it why can’t you? And I go around in Davao with a motorcycle, with a big bike around and I would just patrol the streets and looking for trouble also. Talagang naghanap ako ng engk’wentro para makapatay (I really looked for encounter so I could kill).

Eh ’yung what happened now is ano…. But, if they are, if they say that they are, if I am afraid to stop because of the human rights and guys from, including Obama? Sorry, I am not about to do that. You arrest me, oust me? Go ahead. So, God said that you are mayor but you have given a mission to do something but it’s only up to them. So, fine. Oust me, good. Assassinate me, better. I have this migraine everyday.” 

Duterte said during the Wallace Business Forum dinner in Malacañang on December 12, 2016

“Let us be clear with each other, I am for the comfort and the welfare of the Filipinos. Kayo namang hindi pa bungog d’yan, hindi pa pumasok iyang mga droga, kung ayaw ninyong mamatay, ayaw ninyong masaktan, ’wag kayong umasa diyan sa mga pari, pati human rights, hindi nakakapigil ’yan ng kamatayan. So, ’wag ninyong gawin. Eh tapos nandiyan ka nakabulagta and you are portrayed in a broadsheet na parang Mother Mary cradling the dead cadaver of Jesus Christ. Ayan ang mga ’yan eh. Magdadramahan pa tayo dito. Dito ako nakatingin kasi na’ndito iyong public eh. Alam mo ilang beses ko nang sinasabi ’yan, kunyari sa Davao, huwag mong gawin kasi magkakaproblema tayo.

He who is the cause of the cause is the cause of them all. Ikaw iyong nag-umpisa, you swallow — ulitin ko ha, he who is the cause of the cause is the cause of them all. Kami nagtatrabaho lang. We have a nation to guard. We have millions of people to see that they are healthy. It’s a question of drugs, it’s a question of public interest, public order. Kita mo lesser crimes, wala na kasing magnanakaw, wala na nagholdap. Kasi para ’yan — bakit itatapon sabi nila eh maliliit lang iyan?”

TRANSLATED: Let us be clear with each other: I am for the comfort and welfare of the Filipinos. For those of you who are not deaf yet, who haven’t yet tried drugs — if you don’t want to die, if you don’t want to get hurt, don’t rely on priests or even human rights groups; they cannot prevent death. So don’t do it. Then you end up there, sprawled, and portrayed in a broadsheet like Mother Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus Christ. That’s how it goes. We’ll have a melodrama here. I’m watching this because the public is here. You know how many times I’ve said this, even in Davao: Don’t do it, or we’ll have problems.

He who is the cause of the cause is the cause of them all. You started it — you swallow it. Let me repeat: He who is the cause of the cause is the cause of them all. We are just doing our work. We have a nation to guard. We have millions of people to ensure they are healthy. It’s a matter of drugs, it’s a matter of public interest, public order. You see lesser crimes now — no more theft, no more hold-ups. Why? Because, they say, why punish the small ones, they are just minor offenses?

Duterte said during his 2016 State of the Nation Address

– Rappler.com