The lawyer of self-confessed Davao Death Squad hit man Edgar Matobato on Monday filed a complaint before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague against President Duterte and 11 of his loyal allies for committing crimes against humanity.

In his 77-page complaint, lawyer Jude Josue Sabio cited the “continuing mass murder” in the Philippines as shown by the thousands of Filipinos killed in Duterte’s severe anti-criminality and anti-drug campaigns that began when he was still mayor of Davao City and continued now that he is the country’s chief executive.

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READ: ICC case vs Duterte eyed

Sabio also wrote to ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, appealing:

“Your favorable action on this matter would not only serve the noble ends of international criminal justice, but would also be the beginning of the end of this dark, obscene, murderous and evil era in the Philippines.”

It is the first time in the country’s history that a President has been accused of committing crimes against humanity.

From the time he was mayor until he became President, Mr. Duterte has been “repeatedly, unchangingly, and continuously” committed mass murders “constituting crimes against humanity through murder, Sabio said in his complaint.

“Crimes against humanity are crimes of universal jurisdiction, but where a State like the Philippines fails to assume such universal jurisdiction for crimes against humanity continuously being committed in its very own territory, then the International Criminal Court will have to intervene into a situation that is grave by any human standard,” Sabio said.

“The grim statistics of more than 7,000 drug-related killings cannot be anything but grave, especially if viewed in the context of just seven months since Rodrigo Duterte became the President, compared to only about 3,000 committed during the 20-year Marcos regime. These more than 7,000 drug-related killings translate to roughly 1,000 killings per month.

“The impunity is grave, as shown by the ‘repeated, unchanging and continuing’ extra-judicial or summary executions, with unrelenting impunity, ever since the time that President Duterte was still Mayor of Davao City claiming 1,400 deaths, more or less, under his Davao Death Squad and later on in the national level in the war on drugs after 30 June 2016 waged by the very same person, no less than President Duterte, who formed, created, managed, headed and masterminded the Davao Death Squad in Davao City when he was still a Mayor.

“To end this impunity, the International Criminal Court is being resorted to as a court of last resort, given the gravity of the current human rights disaster in the Philippines,” Sabio said.

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READ: Duterte: I am ready to face ICC, impeachment

Sabio said any investigation under the current administration would be futile because those in government with the legal mandate to do so cannot be expected to do their jobs because of a reason “so simple to see.”

Most of the President’s men “have announced in public their full support” for his war on drugs and “defended the extra-judicial or summary executions as part of legitimate police drug operations,” Sabio said.

Sabio’s complaint relies heavily on the accounts of Matobato, his fellow DDS members Arturo Lascañas and Ernesto Avasola, the reports of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch; Fr. Amado Picardal’s report titled “The Victims of the Davao Death Squad: Consolidated Report 1998-2015”; and media reports that quoted Mr. Duterte and his administration officials.

Aside from Mr. Duterte, the following are included in the complaint for allegedly aiding and abetting the mass murder taking place in the Philippines, naming two police superintendents who have supposedly been tasked by President Duterte to handle the death squad operations in the war against drugs nationwide:

· Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre- a law school classmate of Mr. Duterte, Aguirre has been quoted as saying that drug addicts have no human rights because they are not human in support of the government’s anti-illegal drugs campaign. Aguirre was also the lawyer of Bienvenido Laud, the owner of the quarry where the victims of the Davao Death Squad were said to be buried.

· Philippine National Police (PNP) Director Ronald de la Rosa- tagged by Matobato and Lascañas as having participated in certain DDS operations when Mr. Duterte was still city mayor. Sabio said that de la Rosa knows of the activities of the national level death squads killing suspected drug personalities in his capacity as PNP chief.

· Supt. Edilberto Leonardo- now with the Manila Police District and used to be with the Davao Regional Police. Leonardo reportedly helped “design and operate the reward system” the Duterte administrations war against drugs.

· Supt. Royina Garma- for violations in the implementation of Oplan Tokhang and for the killings in her area of responsibility as head of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Region 7.

· House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez- for his statements that “clearly incite violence and mass murder, or further in a certain way the criminal purpose of President Duterte.”

· Former Interior and Local Government Sec. Ismael Sueno- for allowing the police and village captains who were under his administrative control to implement Oplan Tokhang “which led to the discrimination and vilification of those identified as drug users and dealers, and their eventual murder, persecution, mental torture, and incarceration.”

· SPO4 Sanson “Sonny” Buenaventura – for handing out the reward money to the DDS hitmen and for his direct involvement in the death squad.

· National Bureau of Investigation Director Dante Gierran- for failing to investigate the “widespread and systematic” killings under the administration, thus facilitating the continued commission of the crime.

· Solicitor General Jose Calida – for promising to defend policemen accused of summary killings “if the killings are committed as part of the war on drugs.”

· Senator Richard Gordon – for concluding that the extrajudicial killings by the PNP in the campaign against drugs were not state-sponsored, as the Senate chair of the Committee on Justice and Human Rights and sponsor of the Senate Committee Report No. 18.

· Senator Alan Peter Cayetano – for “aiding and abetting the killings brought by the war on drugs through his speeches and public pronouncements… denying the extra judicial killings and encouraging” President Duterte’s war on drugs.

In his complaint, Sabio said there was “sufficient factual and legal basis” for Bensouda’s office to confirm with the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber that there is enough evidence to place President Duterte and his senior administration officials under trial for committing crimes against humanity.

The judges of the Pre-Trial Chamber can order the arrest of Mr. Duterte and all those named in the complaint if they find there are reasonable grounds that they have committed crimes within the ICC jurisdiction. KS/rga

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MOST READ</s>A lawyer for confessed Davao Death Squad (DDS) hit man Edgar Matobato on Monday filed crimes against humanity charges against President Duterte and 11 of his allies in the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague over the killings of suspected criminals when he was mayor of Davao City and thousands of drug suspects in his brutal war on drugs.

In a 77-page complaint submitted to the ICC, lawyer Jude Josue Sabio cited “continuing mass murder” in the Philippines, as shown by the thousands of deaths in Mr. Duterte’s bloody campaign against crime and illegal drugs in Davao City, which he rolled out on a national scale after becoming President of the Philippines.

Malacañang slammed the filing of the complaint as part of efforts to embarrass Mr. Duterte on the eve of his playing host to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit.

“[It was] apparently meant to create negative news in the midst of the Philippines Asean debut,” presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said in a statement.

Sabio told ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda that her speedy action on the complaint “would not only serve the noble ends of international criminal justice, but would also be the beginning of the end of this dark, obscene, murderous and evil era in the Philippines.”

From the time he was mayor of Davao City up to the time he became President, Mr. Duterte has been “repeatedly, unchangingly and continuously” committing mass murders “constituting crimes against humanity,” Sabio said in the complaint.

He said 1,400 people were killed in Davao City during Mr. Duterte’s long rule there as mayor and more than 7,000 people had been killed since Mr. Duterte launched his war on drugs after taking office as President at the end of June last year.

“Crimes against humanity are crimes of universal jurisdiction, but where a state like the Philippines fails to assume such universal jurisdiction for crimes against humanity continuously being committed in its very own territory, then the International Criminal Court will have to intervene [in] a situation that is grave by any human standard,” he said.

“These mass murders undertaken as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population of the Philippines, disproportionately an attack against the poor or impoverished civilian population, constitute a flagrant, wanton and willful violation of the nonderogable right to life enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other international human rights laws,” he said.

“The grim statistics of more than 7,000 drug-related killings cannot be anything but grave, especially if viewed in the context of just seven months since Rodrigo Duterte became the President, compared to only about 3,000 committed during the 20-year Marcos regime. These more than 7,000 drug-related killings translate to roughly 1,000 killings per month,” he said.

At that rate and with impunity prevailing, the body count will reach 72,000 if Mr. Duterte completes his six-year term, Sabio said.

Abella said the complaint would not prosper, as the ICC takes a case only when legal remedies in the country concerned has been exhausted.

Sabio and Matobato, he said, “did not avail [themselves of or] exhaust all domestic remedies allowed under the Philippine Constitution.”

“Furthermore, an independent Senate investigated the charges hurled against the President with [confessed] hit man Mr. Matobato as star witness. As such there is no unwillingness or inability on the part of the state to investigate and prosecute the President,” Abella said.

He insisted that the extrajudicial killings are not state-sponsored, as police “are conducting legitimate operations that require observance of operational protocols and those who breach procedures are made to answer before the law.”

Policemen found violating procedures can be investigated by the Philippine National Police through its Internal Affairs Service, which Abella said could “suspend or dismiss” erring officers and recommend their prosecution.

“To end this impunity, the International Criminal Court is being resorted to as a court of last resort, given the gravity of the current human rights disaster in the Philippines,” Sabio said.

He said any investigation under the current administration would be futile because the officials with the mandate to investigate, being “alter egos and trusted men of President Duterte,” were “not in a position to contradict the actuations and pronouncements” of Mr. Duterte.

He pointed out that most of the President’s men “have announced in public their full support” for the war on drugs and “defended the extrajudicial or summary executions as part of legitimate police drug operations.”

Sabio’s complaint relies heavily on the accounts of Matobato, confessed DDS leader Arturo Lascañas and Ernesto Avasola, the reports of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch; Fr. Amado Picardal’s report titled “The Victims of the Davao Death Squad: Consolidated Report 1998-2015”; and media reports on the war on drugs quoting Mr. Duterte and his officials.

Accused of crimes against humanity with Mr. Duterte were Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II; the PNP chief, Director General Ronald dela Rosa; police Superintendents Edilberto Leonardo and Royina Garma; Speaker of the House of Representatives Pantaleon Alvarez; former Interior Secretary Ismael Sueno; SPO4 Sanson “Sonny” Buenaventura; National Bureau of Investigation Director Dante Gierran; Solicitor General Jose Calida, and Senators Richard Gordon and Alan Peter Cayetano.

Sabio said Aguirre’s comments that drug addicts had no human rights “make him criminally liable because he is contributing to the commission of the crime in any other way with the conscious aim of furthering the criminal purpose or activity of the death squads.”

Aguirre has “labeled the suspects without the benefit of due process and knowing that many of those who had been labeled were eventually killed either by the police or vigilantes,” Sabio said.

He said Aguirre was also the lawyer of Bienvenido Laud, the owner of the quarry where many of the DDS victims were said to have been buried.

According to Sabio, Matobato and Lascañas have said Dela Rosa took part in certain DDS operations when Mr. Duterte, the alleged founder of the death squad, was mayor of Davao City.

Matobato testified in the Senate in September about the DDS killings on Mr. Duterte’s orders, admitting to carrying out many of the killings.

Lascañas, who at first denied the existence of the DDS in a Senate testimony but turned around in February and confirmed that Mr. Duterte founded the squad and ordered the Davao killings, has fled to Singapore with his family, waiting to be summoned by the ICC.

Sabio alleged that Dela Rosa, as PNP chief, knows the activities of the national-level death squads killing drug suspects.

Dela Rosa also knows Leonardo and Garma, who has been tasked with overseeing death squad operations nationwide by Mr. Duterte, Sabio said.

Leonardo, a former officer in the Davao Regional Police, is now with the Manila Police District and has helped “design and operate the reward system” for Mr. Duterte’s war on drugs, he said.

Sabio accused Garma of responsibility for the drug killings in Central Visayas, where she is the head of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

Alvarez was charged for his comments that “clearly incite violence and mass murder, or further in a certain way the criminal purpose of President Duterte.”

Sueno, Sabio said, allowed police and village captains, who were under his administrative control, to carry out “Oplan Tokhang,” the police door-to-door campaign that “led to the discrimination [against] and vilification of those identified as drug users and dealers, and their eventual murder, persecution, mental torture and incarceration.”

Sabio alleged that Buenaventura handed out rewards to DDS hit men and had direct involvement in the death squad.

He accused Gierran of failing to investigate the “widespread and systematic” killings in the war on drugs, thus facilitating the continued commission of the crime.

Calida, he said, promised to defend policemen accused of summary killings “if the killings are committed as part of the war on drugs.”

His “enthusiastic promise to defend wrongdoing echoes and backs up President Duterte’s statements promising exoneration for those who follow his orders to kill, facilitating the commission of more murders,” Sabio said.

Gordon, chair of the Senate committee on justice and human rights, was included in the complaint for concluding that the extrajudicial killings in the war on drugs were not state-sponsored.

Cayetano was accused of “aiding and abetting the killings” through “speeches and public pronouncements denying extrajudicial killings,” thus encouraging the war on drugs.

Sabio said Cayetano attributed supposedly “safer” communities to the deaths of drug suspects and criminals.

The complaint said the actions of Gordon and Cayetano that led to the removal of Sen. Leila de Lima as chair of the Senate committee on justice and human rights resulted in the “whitewash[ing]” and abrupt termination of the Senate inquiry into the extrajudicial killings.

De Lima, who investigated the Davao killings in 2009 as chair of the Commission on Human Rights, is detained on drug charges that the European Parliament has described as “spurious.”

Aguirre’s department accused her of receiving protection money from convicts trafficking drugs from their cells in New Bilibid Prison.

In his complaint, Sabio noted “sufficient factual and legal basis” for Bensouda’s office to confirm with the ICC Pretrial Chamber that there was enough evidence to put Mr. Duterte on trial for crimes against humanity.

Sabio requested Bensouda to investigate Mr. Duterte and his senior administration officials and, if the Pretrial Chamber finds enough evidence to put them on trial, issue a warrant for their arrest and detention in the ICC’s detention center in The Hague to prevent them from killing more people and potential witnesses.

In October last year, Bensouda warned that her office would be “closely” monitoring the developments in the Philippines, and warned government officials that they were potentially liable to prosecution in the ICC. —WITH A REPORT FROM CHRISTINE O. AVENDAÑO</s>“Your favorable action on this matter would not only serve the noble ends of international criminal justice, but would also be the beginning of the end of this dark, obscene, murderous and evil era in the Philippines,”sabi Sabio kay ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.

 Ito ang unang pagkakataon na kinasuhan ang isang presidente ng krimen laban sa sangkatauhan.

 “Crimes against humanity are crimes of universal jurisdiction, but where a State like the Philippines fails to assume such universal jurisdiction for crimes against humanity continuously being committed in its very own territory, then the International Criminal Court will have to intervene into a situation that is grave by any human standard,” dagdag ni Sabio.

 Idinagdag ni Sabio na tinatayang mahigit 7,000 na ang napapatay dahil sa kampanya kontra droga ni Duterte sa loob lamang ng walong buwan, kumpara sa 3,000 napatay sa 20-taong rehimen ni yumaong pangulong Ferdinand Marcos.

 Bukod kay Duterte, kinasuhan din sina Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre; Philippine National Police (PNP) Director Ronald de la Rosa; Supt. Edilberto Leonardo; Supt. Royina Garma; House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez; dating Interior secretary Ismael Sueno; SPO4 Sanson “Sonny” Buenaventura; National Bureau of Investigation Director Dante Gierran; Solicitor General Jose Calida; Senator Richard Gordo; at Senator Alan Peter Cayetano.

 Maaaring ipaaresto ng mga judge Pre-Trial Chamber sina Duterte at iba pang akusado sakaling makitaan ng ebidensiya na sangkot nga sila sa mga krimen laban sa sangkatauhan.</s>An opposition lawmaker who sought the impeachment of President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday welcomed the filing of a complaint before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague against the chief executive, and said this could signal the way to hold him accountable for his brutal war on drugs.

In a statement, Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano said he respected the decision of Atty. Jude Sabio, counsel of confessed Davao Death Squad hitman Edgar Matobato, to take to the ICC Duterte’s alleged involvement in extrajudicial killings, which was also the main crux of Alejano’s impeachment complaint against the president.

READ: 1st impeachment complaint filed vs Duterte for killings, graft | Solon files impeach rap vs Duterte over West PH Sea, Benham Rise

“I respect the action of Atty. Sabio to file a case of crime against humanity committed by President Duterte before the ICC. This is the same issue and one of the basis embodied in the impeachment complaint I filed against Duterte last March 16,” Alejano said.

Alejano said the complaint before the ICC is an opportunity for Congress to show it is partial from the president.

“This is an opportunity for Congress to show to the world that it is independent from the influence of the President and prove that it is able and willing to make him accountable of crimes he has committed to the Filipino people,” Alejano said.

In his 77-page complaint, Sabio cited the “continuing mass murder” in the Philippines due to the thousands of Filipinos killed in Duterte’s anti-drug campaign that started when he was Davao city mayor and continues now that he is president.

READ: Duterte, 11 others accused of crimes against humanity before ICC

“Your favorable action on this matter would not only serve the noble ends of international criminal justice, but would also be the beginning of the end of this dark, obscene, murderous and evil era in the Philippines,” Sabio said.

Sabio said the 7,000 drug-related killings in the Philippines in the past seven months have surpassed the 3,000 killings during the two-decade martial law regime of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

The police has contested the 7,000 figure, noting that only around 2,600 drug pushers and users were killed in legitimate police operations.

Sabio’s client Matobato has testified in a Senate inquiry about Duterte’s alleged order for the vigilante group Davao Death Squad to kill drug criminals in Davao city.

Also included in the complaint are Duterte’s closest allies – Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre, Philippine National Police chief Ronald Dela Rosa, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, Senators Richard Gordon and Alan Peter Cayetano, Solicitor General Jose Calida, and former Interior secretary Ismael Sueno, among others. IDL</s>Lawmakers who are allies of President Rodrigo Duterte defended the Chief Executive from a complaint for crimes against humanity filed before the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

The criminal complaint is going to the trash bin because the ICC is a court of last resort, Kabayan Rep. Harry Roque said in a statement, calling the ICC complaint “premature, suspect and bound to fail.”

The ICC, of which the Philippines is a state party, is the court of last resort, and a petitioner may only file a case before the ICC after exhausting all legal remedies in the home country.

“The Principle of Complementarity provides that the ICC will only exercise jurisdiction when Philippine courts are unwilling or unable to do so. There are various remedies available within our legal framework that have yet to be exhausted,” Roque said.

Roque lamented that the criminal complaint was filed just as the country is set to host the Asean summit, obviously intended to discredit the administration.

“Thus, it appears that the filing of this letter at this moment is an attempt to discredit the President and the Philippine government as the ASEAN Summit begins. It is regrettable how maneuvers like this to cast a negative light upon the Philippines have become more and more common,” Roque said.

Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles said the ICC complaint was only intended to destabilize the government and weaken the public support for the President.

“The case filed against the President in the ICC, as most Filipinos know, is the latest step in the destabilization plot against the Duterte administration. This is complete waste of time because any lawyer would say there is no basis to prosecute the President for alleged crimes against humanity,” Nograles said.

He said the complaint has no clear evidence, adding that it is a case of forum shopping because the impeachment complaint against Duterte for his alleged role in extrajudicial killings is bound to fail.

READ: Solon files impeach rap vs Duterte over West PH Sea, Benham Rise | 1st impeachment complaint filed vs Duterte for killings, graft

“Clearly, those who seek to topple President Duterte are forum-shopping for a court sympathetic to their complaint. If they can’t get the President impeached by Congress, then they can use that as reason to appeal to the ICC to take cognizance of their complaint,” Nograles said.

“In other words, since they know they don’t stand a chance in Congress, they have just gone to the ICC in advance,” he added.

Surigao Del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers said the ICC complaint is nothing more than an attempt for the complainant Atty. Jude Sabio to get his three minutes of fame at the expense of the President.

“Note that no single piece of evidence was offered to directly link the accused to the commission of the crimes being charged against them,” Barbers said, noting that A Sabio offered as evidence the findings of the Human Rights Watch even though the latter was not a fact-finding body.

In his 77-page complaint, Sabio cited the “continuing mass murder” in the Philippines due to the thousands of Filipinos killed in Duterte’s anti-drug campaign that started when he was Davao City mayor and continues now that he is President.

READ: Duterte, 11 others accused of crimes against humanity before ICC

“Your favorable action on this matter would not only serve the noble ends of international criminal justice, but would also be the beginning of the end of this dark, obscene, murderous and evil era in the Philippines,” Sabio said.

Sabio said the 7,000 drug-related killings in the Philippines in the past seven months have surpassed the 3,000 killings during the two decade martial law regime of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

The police has contested the 7,000 figure, noting that only around 2,600 drug pushers and users were killed in legitimate police operations.

Sabio in filing the ICC complaint represented Edgar Matobato, a self-confessed member of the Davao Death Squad who admitted to killing drug suspects in Davao City upon Duterte’s orders.

Matobato has testified in a Senate inquiry about Duterte’s alleged order for the vigilante group Davao Death Squad to kill drug criminals in Davao City when Duterte was mayor.

Also included in the complaint are Duterte’s closest allies – Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre, Philippine National Police chief Ronald Dela Rosa, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, Senators Richard Gordon and Alan Peter Cayetano, Solicitor General Jose Calida, former Interior secretary Ismael Sueno, among others.</s>The Deputy whip of the Senate senator Francis Alimikhena has expressed shock over the sudden departure of a worthy colleague distinquished Senator Isiaka Adeleke who passed away today.

He express sadness and pain for the lost. According to him "Senator Adeleke died when his services and wisdom was needed most by both the Senate, Nigerians and the people of Osun State where he has serve as the first civilian Governor with remarkable contribution and impact.

Senator Adeleke was a leader of rare character. He was an honest man, an extraordinary politician, a great leader and a man of principle. His character was legendary, particularly the demdemonstration of his vast knowledge and elderly wisdom in expressing his contributions in the Senate.

The Deputy whip of the Senate and Senator representing Edo North in his condolence message by his Personal Assistant Benjamin Atu, Senator Alimikhena said “Nigerians will certainly miss the man who left a lasting stamp in Osun State. Adeleke will be remembered for his very unique and purposeful leadership. He will also be remembered by Nigerians as a brave leader who has given the people of Osun State a worthy representation In the Senate.

While we joined the family to mourn the painful departure, He encouraged the people of Osun to find consolation in the fact that Senator Adeleke lived a life worthy of emulation and his contributions to humanity can't be forgotten.

It is my prayers to our Heavenly Father to grant our great colleague and brother eternal rest. May God also comfort his family at this very difficult moment of grief the statement added.</s>A criminal case was filed against President Rodrigo Duterte before the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague, Netherlands for his alleged involvement in extrajudicial killings when he was still mayor of Davao City, and now as President of the Philippines.

In the 77-page communication submitted to the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC, Jude Sabio, lawyer of self-confessed hitman Edgar Matobato, accused Duterte of violating the Articles of the Rome Statute through mass murder or extrajudicial executions, which, he claimed, constituted crimes against humanity.

Duterte allegedly committed the crimes during his tenure as mayor of Davao City, through his personal involvement in the so-called Davao Death Squad, and now as President of the Philippines through his war on drugs.

The Rome Statute is the treaty that established the ICC, the first permanent international court that is capable of trying perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression—the statute’s four core international crimes.

The Philippines is a state party to the Rome Statute, together with other 123 state parties, after ratifying it in August 2011.

Apart from Duterte, 11 of his allies including two senators were also charged for violating provisions of the Rome Statute.

Others facing charges at the ICC are Senators Alan Peter Cayetano and Richard Gordon, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre 2nd, Police National Police (PNP) Chief Ronald de la Rosa, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, former Interior Secretary Ismael Sueno, Supt. Edilberto Leonardo, Senior Police Officer 4 Sanson “Sonny” Buenaventura, Supt. Royina Garma, National Bureau of Investigation Director Dante Gierran, and Solicitor General Jose Calida.

Sabio said Gordon, as chairman of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights and sponsor of Senate Committee Report No. 18196 on the spate of summary execution of suspected drug trader, is liable for “ultimately concluding that killings are not state-sponsored.”

He added that Cayetano aided and abetted the killings “through his speeches and public pronouncements.”

 Sabio cited in his complaint the similarities in the killings in Davao City and in the drug war.

“The basic material hallmarks or elements in the extrajudicial executions by the Davao Death Squad in Davao City and in the continued extrajudicial executions after President Duterte became the President are too numerous and too obvious to escape scant attention,” he said.

He noted the presence police participation and command; the element of a hitman or an unknown armed assailant; the establishment of a reward system for every killing; the existence of a kill watch list; collaboration between barangay (village) and police officials; cardboard signs and faces or bodies wrapped in packing tape; the use of motorcycle-riding assailants; and planting of guns and drugs.

Sabio said Duterte had completely ignored the appeals of local and international human rights groups and other international bodies to stop the killings.

Also, Duterte’s officials and allies have become instruments in covering up the issue in the media and congressional investigations.

“It is for these reasons that I have referred this case to the ICC to make President Duterte accountable for his crimes in the name of international criminal justice, and to once and for all end this dark, obscene, murderous and evil era in the Philippines,” Sabio said.

After filing the case, the ICC prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, will determine whether it falls within the jurisdiction of the ICC and if it is proper to file criminal charges against the accused, before investigating the case and issuing a warrant of arrest against the President and other respondents.

Malacañang on Monday dismissed as “baseless” the complaint filed against President Duterte before the ICC in The Hague.

Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella suspected that the filing of the case was “meant to create negative news” amid the Philippines’ hosting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit.

“It cannot prosper. International Criminal Court rules provide that the ICC, as a court of last resort, will only exercise jurisdiction over a case once legal remedies in the Philippines have been exhausted. Atty. Sabio or his client, Mr. Edgardo Matobato, did not avail/exhaust all domestic remedies allowed under the Philippine Constitution,” Abella said.

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said such complaint would not flourish because there was no basis to allege that Duterte had ordered the extrajudicial killings.

Panelo noted that under the international treaty, murder should have been committed against a class of people, which was not the case in Sabio’s complaint.

“It is not a state-sponsored war in respect to the extrajudicial killings. The [extrajudicial killings]come up because of members of the syndicates who are killing each other, they’re spilling the beans against their own comrades. Those in danger of being prosecuted and arrested would necessarily silence those who are pointing fingers at them,” he told reporters.

“Even assuming that there is police participation in these killings, the police records would show that those who have abused their authority were charged in court. That will negate the claim that it is state-initiated. Otherwise they would have not been charged,” he added.

Matobato last year confessed before the Philippine Senate that he was part of the so-called Davao Death Squad, which was allegedly formed by Duterte to eliminate political opponents and drug addicts.

The ICC complaint was based on the testimonies of Matobato, retired policeman Arturo Lascañas, media reports and reports from rights groups.

Almost 9,000 people have been killed since Duterte assumed the presidency in June 2016.</s>The Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has expressed shock and deep sense of loss over the death of the Senator representing Osun West Senatorial District, Senator Isiaka Adeleke.

Ekweremadu, who described the deceased as a perfect gentleman and patriot, noted that his demise was a grave loss, not only to the Senate and the good people of Osun State, but also the entire nation.

He said: “I am in rude shock over this sad development. It is like a rainstorm at the height of dry season.

“Distinguished Adeleke was a brother and friend. He was cosmopolitan in nature and started his education in Enugu, my State. This nature showed in his broadminded approach to debates and national issues, which stood him out as a statesman and pan-Nigerian.

“With him as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), I found a willing partner, as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution in the 6th Senate in our collective effort to reposition the nation’s electoral system. He will be remembered for the gains of those reforms as witnessed in the 2011 and 2015 general elections”.

The Deputy President of the Senate condoled with the family of the late Senator as well as the government and people of Osun State.

He also prayed for the peaceful repose of the soul of the departed.</s>Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, on Sunday, described the news of the death of former Governor of Osun State, Senator Isiaka Adeleke, as “a rude shock.”

The governor, in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Adejuwon Soyinka, described the death of Senator Adeleke as “a great loss not just to Osun State but to the entire nation.”

Senator Adeleke was said to have died on Sunday, April 23, 2017.

Governor Amosun described the two-time Senator and first elected Governor of Osun State as “an experienced politician and administrator who will be sorely missed by not just his immediate family but also his political family and the nation at large.”

He said the late Senator Adeleke would be remembered for, among other things, his love for education.

Governor Amosun said this was exemplified by Senator Adeleke’s decision, as Governor of Osun State, to establish a Polytechnic at Iree, a College of Technology at Esa Oke as well as award of scholarship to indigent students across the country.

The Ogun State Governor therefore commiserated with the government and good people of Osun State over the sudden death of Senator Adeleke.

Governor Amosun prayed that God grants his family the fortitude to bear the loss.
The accused include PNP chief Ronald dela Rosa, Justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre, Edilberto Leonardo, Royina Garma, House speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, former Interior secretary Ismael Sueno, Sonny Buenaventura, Solicitor General Jose Calida, Dante Gierran, Senator Richard J. Gordon, and Senator Alan Peter Cayetano.