Former president Rodrigo Duterte (Keith Bacongco/ MANILA BULLETIN)

​Tingog Party-list Rep. Jude Acidre believes that the 43 extrajudicial killings (EJKs) picked by prosecutors in the International Criminal Court (ICC) were more than enough to represent thousands of such cases in the crimes against humanity trial of former president Rodrigo Duterte.

In fact, Acidre said only one case is needed to convict Duterte for the charge that the latter is facing before the United Nations (UN)-backed court.

"Hindi kailangan ng komplikadong equation para patunayan na mayroong masamang sistema. Ang bawat kaso na iniimbestigahan ay isang dokumentadong patunay ng isang mas malawak at nakakatakot na pattern ng karahasan (It doesn't need a complicated equation to prove that there's a faulty system. Each case that's being investigated is documentary proof of a wider and scary pattern of violence)," he said on Thursday, March 20.

The lawmaker said that the ICC is not trying to produce a statistical sample that perfectly represents every single death linked to the drug war.

Rather, it aims to prove that these documented cases reveal a consistent pattern of abuse and brutality.

“Ang 43 na kasong ito ay pinili dahil sa kalidad ng ebidensya at sa kakayahan nilang ipakita ang isang sistematikong paglabag sa karapatang-pantao. Hindi ito tungkol sa dami, kundi sa bigat at katotohanan ng bawat kaso (These 43 cases were picked because of the quality of evidence and the prosecutors' capacity to prove a systematic abuse of human rights. This is not about the number of cases, but the weight of each case),” he said.

Drawing from the ICC prosecutor’s argument, Acidre emphasized that the cases were chosen to establish a pattern of abuse, not to represent the entire number of victims.

He said the details in the 43 cases show the pattern of widespread police violence and civilian deaths under Duterte’s drug war.

“Ang mga pagpatay na ito ay hindi isolated incidents. Paulit-ulit ang mga istorya ng mga biktima—walang due process, walang hustisya (These killings were not isolated. These were the stories of the victims who did not experience due process and did not get justice)," he said.

The House leader argues that focusing on the number of cases is misleading and a deliberate attempt to downplay the reality of systematic killings.

“Ang bawat isa sa 43 na kaso ay isang buhay na nawala. Pamilya ang naulila. Hustisya na ipinagkakait. Hindi tamang sabihin na maliit na bilang lamang ito dahil bawat kaso ay may bigat at kahulugan (Each of the 43 cases represents a life lost, a family that has lost their loved ones, a justice that's denied. We cannot say that this is just a small number because each case has weight and meaning),” he said.