President Rodrigo Duterte is facing other petitions of human rights violations before The Hague-based International Criminal Court in The Netherlands, an official said Wednesday.
Speaking before The Source at the CNN cable television, Commission on Human Rights Chairman Chito Gascon said there were three other communications filed against Duterte questioning his war on illegal drugs.
“There are more than two communications made in a public manner but discreet communications that have been brought before the ICC by other concerned stakeholders from outside the Philippines,” Gascon said.
He did not identify the petitioners or the nature of their petitions.
In April 2017, lawyer Jude Sabio filed a petition with the ICC on Duterte’s deadly war on drugs, and in August this year several families of the supposed victims of extrajudicial killings filed another complaint with the ICC.
Last month, the International People’s Tribunal found Duterte guilty of human rights violations based on the accounts of the witnesses of the extrajudicial killings.
Gascon said the CHR had nothing to do with any of the complaints filed against the President.
“Let me put it this way: When the [ICC] prosecutors in February said they would open a preliminary examination on the case[s], we said we were ready to cooperate,” Gascon said.
“But the ICC did not communicate [with us]. The ICC did not respond to our offer of assistance, but we are working with the individual victims who are seriously considering this as a remedy.”
Despite Duterte’s withdrawal from the ICC, Gascon said, the international tribunal still had jurisdiction over the Philippines as one of its members.
“We are under the jurisdiction of the ICC until March 2019 [because of the grace period of one year after withdrawal],” Gascon said.
“The long arm of the ICC could still be used even after 2019.”