Nicholas Kaufman’s tack in portraying Rodrigo Duterte as an aging family man isolated from loved ones comprised a curious turn in the Defense’s presentation at the just-concluded confirmation of charges hearing at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.
Having harped on the Prosecution’s supposed use of rhetoric and hyperbole to cover what he described as the lack of evidence in its own presentation, the British-Israeli lawyer was not above employing melodrama in an effort to smooth the edges of Duterte’s strongman image—an image that was assiduously cultivated and promoted during his long tenure as mayor of the family bailiwick Davao City and as president of the republic.
Now, per Kaufman’s telling at the end of the last day of the hearing, his client is bewildered at being charged with the killing of drug pushers and users under the “war on drugs.” He said that in the course of his case update conducted during a break in the hearing, his client lost interest—suggesting that, as the Defense continues to claim, the man is not fit to stand trial. (Procedures conducted by ICC experts have shown otherwise.)
Flowers and letters
Kaufman’s narrative touched on such tidbits as the 80th-birthday bouquets sent to Duterte by family members and followers—“a forest of flowers and a mountain of cards,” he said, the blooms overflowing the prisoner’s room and lining the corridors and, in time, settling into a state of decay that necessitated their removal. In attempting to negate what the Prosecution declared earlier—that “the drug war victims’ suffering was met not only by Duterte’s indifference but also by his mocking [stance]”—the Defense’s lead counsel behaved as though he were a participant in a storytelling workshop, not a court of law.
His narrative included as well a striking detail: the letters sent by Duterte’s youngest child—Veronica, he named her. She writes her father daily, so that the letters are now piling in the prisoner’s room, he said.
The attentive observer may have wondered if she heard that right. Did the ex-president’s lead counsel mean that Veronica is writing letters to her Dada with pen and paper and sending these by post every day (hence the pile)? How…quaint. From, incredibly, Davao City? Or perhaps not: From somewhere in The Hague, perhaps in Scheveningen itself (where the ICC prison facility is located)?
This may explain the online talk purporting that the family has purchased a house in Scheveningen, a district in The Hague famous for, among others, a seaside resort. The alleged purchase, it must be said, makes sense given the constant presence there of family members including Vice President Sara Duterte herself (recent videos showed her in appropriate winter wear). Consider the costs that a house could offset even only in terms of their accommodations: At one time, all four Duterte children were seen posing pleasantly for photos in between visits to their father; at other times, although presumably not together, the Vice President’s mother and Veronica’s mother were in town. The ex-president’s brother is said to be almost always present. Etc.
At any rate, Sara Duterte is on record as saying that the family no longer expects to bring her father back to the motherland. “We are no longer looking at the chances of [the former president] coming home. We’re no longer talking about that,” a Philippine Star report on Feb. 26 quoted her as saying in an interview in Iligan City.
Whether that’s true or not, no one is certain. Like the ex-president (as often attested to by his lieutenants in Malacañang), she has shown a proclivity for “jokes,” as when she told the family’s supporters that she was thinking of springing her father from prison with help from a colleague. ICC Deputy Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang cited that statement—made “supposedly in jest”—among others last year in announcing that the Office of the Prosecutor has denied the Defense’s petition for Rodrigo Duterte’s interim release.
Sufficiency of evidence
The Feb. 23–27 hearing on the confirmation of charges against Rodrigo Duterte was held to determine sufficiency of evidence to establish grounds to proceed to trial for the crime against humanity of murder. The ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber 1 has 60 days to deliberate on the matter. Recall that the hearing was originally scheduled in September 2025 and was postponed on the Defense’s request because of the 80-year-old’s alleged unfitness to be tried.
For those who did not dream that such a proceeding concerning the mighty Rodrigo Duterte could occur in their lifetime, the road to justice being demonstrably circuitous specifically for the poor and powerless, the occasion was historic and profoundly instructive. He may have chosen absence as an expression of defiance of the court, and in the course of it deprived the victims of his “war” the opportunity to finally behold him in a judicial setting. But it was clear that in choosing absence, he also displayed a diminution of nerve.
A few of the women fighting for justice for loved ones killed in Duterte’s “war” managed to attend the hearing through contributed funds and borrowed warm clothing— and were subjected to barbarous treatment enabled by AI and a twisted mindset. The “vlogger” exposed to have manipulated the women’s photograph to show them carrying luxury bags—in an effort to portray them as wealthy and pretending to be impoverished—was last heard from inexplicably seeking help from the Divine. She should not be forgotten.
Life choices
For the duration of the hearing, Filipino lawyers seized the opportunity to declare their stand and the life choices they have made.
Gilbert Andres and Joel Butuyan served as able participants in the Prosecution’s presentation; Kristina Conti and Neri Colmenares continued to help provide for an understanding of the ICC processes and to assist the victims.
Former Cabinet members described by Duterte’s family as his Filipino legal team—Salvador Medialdea, Salvador Panelo, Silvestre Bello III, Martin Delgra, Caesar Dulay and Alfredo Cereza Lim—were reported sitting in the public gallery and heard during breaks expressing admiration at the Defense’s performance. At one point, they posed for posterity executing the “Duterte salute.”
On home grounds, the lawyer Jojo Lacanilao, convenor of the Duterte Panagutin Campaign Network, said one only had to listen to clips of Rodrigo Duterte’s public utterances during his presidency to get an idea of the Defense’s tremendous task in the event of a trial. So difficult to deny, so difficult to defend, he said: “Ang hirap itanggi, ang hirap idepensa.”
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives’ committee on justice chaired by Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro begins deliberations on the impeachment complaints against the Vice President for sufficiency in form and substance. CS
