In a statement, Senator JV Ejercito questioned the timing of the complaint filed by Atty. Jude Sabio, lawyer of confessed hitman Edgar Matobato.
“Timing in filing of case against President Duterte in ICC is obviously meant to embarrass the President in the upcoming ASEAN,” Ejercito said referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit hosted by the Philippines this year.
Ejercito said the complaint is “part of a conspiracy to oust the President by destroying his credibility in the international community.”
Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III, for his part, mocked the complaint, which accused Duterte of crimes against humanity over the alleged killings perpetrated by the so-called Davao Death Squad and the current administration’s war on drugs.
“At least it will be a dictionary changer. Humanity will now be defined as drug pushers fighting back against police ops,” Sotto said in a text message.
Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, a staunch critic of the President, welcomed the filing of the complaint.
“We would now have a truly independent body that could find out the whole truth behind the slaughter of thousands of Filipinos and prosecute those behind it to include the enablers who allowed or encouraged it to happen,” Trillanes said in a statement.
Also charged before the ICC are 11 government officials and close allies of the President.
These include PNP chief Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa and Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, Senator Richard Gordon, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, Solictor General Jose Calida, and National Bureau of Investigation director Dante Gierran.
Chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo earlier said that the complaint will not prosper, saying it is “baseless” as the drug-related killings are not state-sponsored.
SOURCE: GMA
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