Trillanes: ICC contacted 50 past, present PNP officials on Duterte case

Trillanes: ICC contacted 50 past, present PNP officials on Duterte case

MANILA, Philippines — The International Criminal Court (ICC) has talked to around 50 former and incumbent police officials regarding the crime against humanity complaints against former President Rodrigo Duterte, former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said on Wednesday.

Trillanes in a tweet on X (formerly Twitter) claims to have received “highly credible information” that ICC investigators have already talked to the Philippine National Police (PNP) officials accused of involvement in Duterte’s drug war.

READ: Trillanes revives call on Marcos to let ICC probe Duterte for alleged EJKs

According to the former lawmaker, this means investigators can label the officials as co-suspects if they do not cooperate with the probe.

“Based on highly credible information, the ICC investigators have already directly communicated with more than 50 active and former PNP officials regarding their being implicated in the crimes against humanity case of Rodrigo Duterte at the ICC,” Trillanes said.

“This means that if they do not immediately signify their intention to cooperate with the investigators, their status would be elevated to being suspects and, therefore, would result to travel restrictions initially and eventually arrest via Interpol (International Criminal Police Organization),” he added.

READ: Trillanes, Alejano file complaint at ICC vs Duterte’s drug war

INQUIRER.net has asked PNP about Trillanes’ claims, but it has not responded as of posting time.

Trillanes, a staunch critic of the former president, has repeatedly asked President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to allow the ICC probers access into the country, so that they could start investigations on Duterte’s drug war and the alleged extrajudicial killings (EJKs) that happened.

The former senator was one of the parties which filed complaints against Duterte for the crime against humanity of mass murder.

Last January 2024, Trillanes said that ICC investigators were in the Philippines last December, noting that an arrest order can be issued against Duterte soon.  But just this April 15, Marcos reiterated that the Philippines will not hand Duterte to the ICC, saying that the government would not “recognize the warrant that they will send to us”.

READ: PH will not hand Duterte over to ICC — Marcos

Duterte’s allies have lauded the former president for addressing the drug menace when he took office in 2016.  The drug war, which was a continuation of his policy when he was also Davao mayor, led to over 6,250 deaths in police operations from June 2016 to June 2022.

However, activist groups have claimed that the true death toll during Duterte’s term from June 2016 to June 2022 may be anywhere between 12,000 to 30,000.  Duterte said the deaths were not due to police operations, but were brought by drug gangs fighting each other.