“These souls and their families deserve more than empty promises and political theater”
The International Criminal Court’s reaffirmation of its jurisdiction over former President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs is a historic victory for justice.
Issued on Oct. 23, 2025, the ruling dismantles years of denial and delay. For the thousands of victims of extrajudicial killings, this moment is long overdue. The Duterte trial must begin — and it must begin soon.
Duterte’s presidency, which began in 2016, unleashed a campaign of state-sanctioned killings that claimed tens of thousands of lives.
Under the guise of fighting drugs, the police and vigilantes targeted the poor, the powerless, and the voiceless. Behind promises of order and discipline was a system of terror that normalized murder and rewarded impunity.
Senator Bato dela Rosa, Duterte’s former police chief and key architect of the campaign, is among those who have been accused to have helped execute this massacre of the poor. If reports are to be believed, he will soon also be indicted as a Duterte co-accused.
For nearly a decade, those responsible have hidden behind the rhetoric of sovereignty, insisting that the Philippines’ withdrawal from the Rome Statute in 2019 shields them from ICC scrutiny.
But the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber has now made it clear in a unanimous decision: crimes committed while the country was a member remain under its jurisdiction. Indeed, withdrawal does not wipe the slate clean.
The ruling ensures that Duterte and others implicated in the killings, will face accountability before the international community. It sends a message to the world that no leader can hide from the consequences of state violence.
There is also no confusion about procedure. The arrest and surrender of Duterte to the ICC is not extradition.
Extradition applies to transfers between two states and depends on bilateral treaties. The ICC is not a state; it is an international criminal tribunal acting under its own mandate, to which the Philippines was bound during the period under investigation.
The new extradition rules recently issued by the Philippine Supreme Court have no application here.
Those rules might be relevant if the United States’ requests for the extradition of someone like Apollo Quiboloy, but they have no bearing on the ICC’s demand for Duterte’s surrender.
The process of turning Duterte over to the ICC is a matter of international cooperation, not bilateral negotiation.
A pending issue remains on whether Duterte is fit to stand trial.
Questions have been raised about his physical and mental condition, but such issues must not be exploited to stall justice.
The ICC should direct an independent and transparent medical assessment to determine his capacity to face proceedings. If Duterte is fit, the trial must move forward without hesitation.
This is not only a legal reckoning but a moral one. The ICC’s decision exposes the hypocrisy of those who still defend the killings as “necessary.” It shatters the illusion that the war on drugs was anything but a war against the poor.
For too long, the families of victims have been told to stay silent, to accept impunity as the price of order.
But there can be no peace built on the graves of the innocent. Mothers still grieve for their children shot in the streets. Children still carry the trauma of losing parents to police bullets. Their pain demands recognition, not denial.
The ICC has shown resolve. By standing firm against political pressure and legal obstruction, it has reasserted the enduring power of international law.
The world has witnessed too many atrocities excused in the name of nationalism. This time, the world must see accountability.
The victims of Duterte’s war on drugs have waited nearly a decade for justice. As we celebrate Undas – All Saints and All Souls Day – this weekend, let us listen to the cry of the souls killed in Duterte’s massacre of the poor.
These souls and their families deserve more than empty promises and political theater.
They deserve to see those responsible held to account in a court of law. Justice delayed is justice denied, and delay now would only compound the suffering of those who have already lost so much.
The ICC has spoken clearly. The evidence has been gathered. The time for excuses has passed. The Duterte trial must begin now — because justice, long denied, can wait no more.
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