Malacañang has rebuked the lead counsel of former president Rodrigo Duterte, reminding him to “focus on his job” after he accused President Marcos of orchestrating the former leader’s prosecution before the International Criminal Court (ICC).

In a press briefing on Friday, May 30, Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said Duterte's lead counsel, Nicholas Kaufman, had no idea what he was talking about.

"It is very apparent and very obvious that Atty. Kaufman is being surrounded by fake news peddlers," she said.

"He doesn’t know the timeline. He doesn’t know the facts of the case," she added.

According to the Palace Press Officer, Kaufman should stop spreading rumors.

"He should be concentrating on his job as a counsel, not on engaging in rumor mongering," she said.

Kaufman, in a media interview in The Hague last week, claimed that President Marcos had "thrown President Duterte over here to The Hague" and described him as the "real prosecutor" in this case.

"He’s the person who used the Office of the Prosecutor as a tool in his political campaign, and it won’t work," he said.

Duterte is currently being held at a federal facility under ICC custody, after he was arrested for crimes against humanity and transferred to the court on March 11.

The ICC has been pursuing a full investigation into his anti-drug campaign since the Philippines withdrew from the Rome Statute in 2019, but maintained jurisdiction over acts committed while the country was still a member.

President Marcos and his administration have repeatedly emphasized that they will not interfere in the ICC proceedings, including Duterte’s case.