A House leader on Saturday rejected the argument raised before the International Criminal Court (ICC) that former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s drug war remarks were merely jokes, hyperbole or figures of speech, saying such a defense cannot apply to the country’s highest officials.
Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon, chair of the House Committee on Public Accounts, said the issue goes beyond semantics and strikes at how government pronouncements are treated in practice.
“You know, everything that the senior leaders of the government say, it is treated as the future policy. That means, there is no hyperbole, there is no room for figures of speech in laying down policies,” Ridon said during the Saturday Media Forum at Dapo Restaurant in Quezon City.
He said that whether one is president or vice president, statements made publicly are not treated as jokes, especially when they involve threats and come from the country’s highest official who exercises authority over the police and the military.
Ridon’s comment came after defense lawyer Nicholas Kaufman argued during ICC confirmation-of-charges proceedings that Duterte’s public statements — frequently cited by prosecutors — should not be taken literally but understood as political rhetoric.
The ICC case involves alleged crimes against humanity linked to thousands of deaths during the Duterte administration’s anti-drug campaign.
Prosecutors argued the former president’s statements encouraged or signaled deadly operations, while the defense insisted they were merely rhetoric.
Ridon said the case boils down to whether the former president’s remarks were merely jokes, hyperbole or figures of speech, or whether they carried operational weight.
“What they are saying is that every time the former president issues a threat, there are victims of Duterte’s drug war who die,” Ridon said.
“So that means, like the theory of the prosecution, there is actual control over anti-drug activities. The president himself, based on the words of the president,” he added.
Ridon said the ICC will ultimately decide whether the case proceeds to full trial but stressed that public officials must recognize the weight of their words.
