Acquainted tune? Kaufman makes use of Duterte’s populist messaging to defend him in ICC

Human rights lawyer Neri Colmenares says Kaufman’s whole assertion shouldn’t be authorized however political, which ‘feeds the narrative of Duterte supporters…’

British-Israeli lawyer Nicholas Kaufman’s opening assertion earlier than the Worldwide Felony Courtroom’s (ICC) Pre-Trial Chamber I used to be straight out of Rodrigo Duterte’s populist playbook.

In the course of the affirmation of costs listening to for Duterte’s crimes towards humanity costs on Monday, February 23, Kaufman resorted to private and political assaults, false causality, and even deceptive info to defend his consumer.

This was in response to the passionate speech of victims’ lawyer Joel Butuyan, who eloquently defined to the chamber why the previous president must be tried by the ICC.

“However I really feel that I should remind him that it is a courtroom of regulation which decides issues on the premise of proof, not on the premise of political demagoguery, and never on the premise of a need to impact regime change regardless of the democratic will,” the counsel stated.

However in lower than two minutes, Kaufman had contradicted himself. The lawyer resorted to what he referred to as “political demagoguery” to assault Duterte’s successor, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., whose administration had facilitated Duterte’s arrest. 

“So it’s certainly the protection’s case that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. got down to neutralize Rodrigo Duterte and his legacy,” Kaufman advised the prosecution. “Sure, Mr. Deputy Prosecutor, I used that legendary phrase, neutralize, so central and so important to your case principle, as a result of simply in addition to me that I’m utilizing the time period metaphorically.”

The phrase “neutralize” is on the middle of the prosecution’s case as a result of it will possibly imply “kill” within the context of the warfare on medicine. In 2016, then-Philippine Nationwide chief Ronald dela Rosa signed Command Memorandum Round (CMC) No. 16-2016, which operationalized the warfare on medicine, and contained the stated time period.

Utilizing Dela Rosa’s earlier interview, retired Supreme Courtroom (SC) senior affiliate justice Antonio Carpio stated in 2017 this time period signifies that the suspects “ought to give up, be arrested, or be killed throughout drug operations.” Human rights legal professionals from the Free Authorized Help Group challenged the warfare on drug’s constitutionality with the SC in 2017.

However virtually 9 years later, the Excessive Courtroom has but to rule on the petition. 

A listing of deceptive claims

Not critical? In a bid to justify his consumer’s acts, Kaufman stated Duterte’s language didn’t intend to have deadly penalties, claiming that his “rhetoric was calculated to arouse concern and obedience.”

• “To instill concern of their hearts, and to inculcate a respect for the regulation of their minds. Nothing extra, nothing much less. That was his intent, and it was not felony,” the lawyer stated.
• Nevertheless, Duterte himself had repeatedly admitted that he induced cops to kill alleged drug suspects. Throughout a Senate blue ribbon committee listening to in 2024, the previous president even stated that he advised his police to encourage suspects to battle again to allow them to justify the killings.
• Different officers like Marcos additionally admitted that the drug warfare was in actual fact abusive. (LIST: Officers who admitted post-Duterte that drug warfare was abusive)

On drug warfare deaths. Kaufman claimed that the drug-related deaths within the Philippines would have stored rising even when Duterte didn’t develop into president as a result of the nation “acts as a transit hub for the trafficking of narcotics emanating from the cartels in China.“ 

• “Certainly, as we are going to show with statistics and studies, the dying price flown from narcotics-related crime truly elevated after Rodrigo Duterte left energy,” Kaufman claimed.
• However the spike within the dying price could be attributed to Duterte’s warfare on medicine the place cops and vigilantes allegedly killed drug personalities summarily. In Duterte’s first three months alone, over 700 individuals had misplaced their lives, in line with human rights teams.
• By the tip of Duterte’s time period in 2022, almost 30,000 individuals have been killed within the drug warfare, in line with a number of human rights organizations. 
• It’s additionally not true that drug-related deaths elevated after Duterte’s time period. Killings continued below Marcos — with 342 incidents from July 1, 2022 to June 20, 2023 — however this quantity was decrease in comparison with the killings below Duterte’s first months in workplace.

Drug warfare is anti-poor. Kaufman additionally took a swipe on the allegation that Duterte’s warfare on medicine had focused the poor, and never a lot the high-value targets.

• Kaufman didn’t solely declare that the drug warfare was “lawful,” but in addition downplayed the warfare by claiming that the previous president applied it whereas selling initiatives “all with the purpose of assuaging poverty.”
• “Legislative reform in 2017 to cut back private earnings taxes for staff, social safety growth generally known as the 4Ps (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program) designed to offer common money transfers to needy and multi-child households, common well being care and, want I say extra, the Magna Carta of the poor, setting out the best to sufficient meals, respectable shelter, training and the next commonplace of well being,” Kaufman stated.
• In actuality, Duterte’s drug warfare was concentrated in areas the place the city poor dwell. A analysis confirmed that at the very least one in 5 victims of drug-related killings in Metro Manila in 2016 and 2017 have been beneficiaries of 4Ps.
• A documentation of human rights group PhilRights revealed that in at the very least 58 extrajudicial killing instances referred to them, they discovered that the victims have been “male adults inside productive age vary, main breadwinners, low- or irregular-wage earners, of low instructional attainment, and residents of city poor communities.” Human rights teams stated these killings pushed victims’ households deeper into poverty.

Assault mode

Like Duterte who had almost zero tolerance for critics, Kaufman additionally made positive to take a jab on the individuals and organizations his consumer has repeatedly attacked.

Media. Kaufman accused the media of utilizing sensational headlines and of getting editorial slant.

• He claimed that medias moguls “promote their papers whereas selling the partisan agenda of their backers in energy”; “The photographers are feted and their photographs exhibited as artwork everywhere in the world, and the courageous journalists who act as their sources win awards and Nobel Prizes. And slowly however absolutely, their narrative turns into the sacred, unchallengeable, and unshakeable reality,” Kaufman stated.
• Duterte typically attacked journalists earlier than, throughout, and even after his time period. Below his time period, Rappler confronted over a handful of costs, together with a shutdown order which was solely voided after his time period. Nobel Peace Prize laureate and the newsroom’s CEO Maria Ressa and former researcher Reynaldo Santos Jr. have been convicted of cyber libel for a narrative revealed 4 months earlier than the regulation’s enactment.
• Broadcast big ABS-CBN was shut down below Duterte’s time period. Different information website Bulalat’s web site was additionally blocked below him.

Human rights teams, teachers. Duterte’s lawyer additionally claimed that the previous president’s rhetoric made him a “pure goal” for non-governmental organizations and human rights teams.

• Kaufman additionally attacked the lecturers who had studied and criticized Duterte’s drug warfare.
• “And so the strain builds up and the lecturers who hang-out the corridors of the progressive left regulation schools distant in america, tweet their analysis and publish their articles pontificating about crimes towards humanity, systematic assaults towards the civilian inhabitants, and so they level their finger at one man, one man alone,” he added.
• Other than red-tagging, harassments, and arrests, many activists and human rights staff have been additionally killed below Duterte. Information of human rights group Karapatan present there have been 422 human rights defenders killed below the earlier administration.

Preaching to the choir? What for?

“Your Honors, Rodrigo Duterte was, and can at all times stay, a singular phenomenon,” Kaufman stated within the earlier a part of his speech.

“We’ll ask you to ship Rodrigo Duterte again to his household, and we are going to ask you to provide again to the Filipino individuals their Tatay Digong,” the lawyer stated on the finish of his opening assertion.

Play Video

It was no shock that Kaufman echoed Duterte. In any case, this similar messaging – populist, enchantment to emotion, assailing – is what made Duterte win in 2016.

For Nationwide Union of Peoples’ Attorneys (NUPL) president Ephraim Cortez, Kaufman’s speech solely revealed the rationale why Duterte wished to delay the hearings.

“He has no credible protection. Kaufman’s opening assertion reveals all of it. He eulogized Duterte. He demonized the victims and human rights organizations within the Duterte means,” Cortez stated. “He did every part besides provide a reputable protection for his consumer. On the price issues are going, Duterte is doomed.”

For the reason that speech was similar to Duterte’s model, Kaufman’s messaging might also be seen as a direct communication to the previous president’s supporters. The justifications on the drug warfare deaths, in addition to the usage of the phrase “Tatay Digong,” are all a part of the narratives typically utilized by Duterte supporters to defend their political idol.

Days earlier than the listening to, Vice President Sara Duterte declared her bid for the presidency in 2028. The previous president’s daughter is preventing for her household’s political survival amid their rift with Marcos.

Native consultants in Davao Metropolis advised Rappler in 2025 that the patriarch’s arrest gave a political increase to the remainder of the household, serving to them sweep the native races of their residence turf within the midterm elections. So, will these new ICC hearings give Sara a lift too?

Play Video

“For me, Kaufman’s whole assertion shouldn’t be authorized however reasonably political,” human rights lawyer Neri Colmenares, who was additionally at The Hague, Netherlands to assist the victims’ households, advised Rappler in Filipino.

“Will it profit Sara? I don’t know, however for me, possibly as a result of it feeds the narrative of Duterte supporters that could be utilized by Sara, in fact. So, politically, it might be useful, however legally, how might they use that?” he added. – Rappler.com