The International Criminal Court (ICC) will conduct an investigation into former president Rodrigo Duterte’s assets and financial resources to determine if he is qualified to the legal aid being offered by the Court, ICC spokesman Fadi El Abdallah said.
Former president Rodrigo Duterte at his initial appearance hearing via video link on Friday, March 14, 2025, at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands. Also in the photo is his legal counsel, former executive secretary Salvador Medialdea. (ICC Photo)
In an interview with NewsWatch Plus PH on Tuesday, March 25, he explained that only the ICC judges can declare if the former president cannot afford to cover his counsels’ fees, so he can avail of the ICC’s legal aid program.
“So, normally, there is a financial investigation about the assets and financial resources that a suspect has before deciding whether the cost of his or her defense should be taken over by the Court or not,” he said.
Vice President Sara Duterte earlier shared that their family is mulling the possibility of applying for the ICC’s legal aid program to cover her father’s legal fees, which could run up to millions of pesos.
The official is currently in The Hague, Netherlands, to assist her father in forming his defense team for the crimes against humanity of murder charges he’s facing in the ICC for his administration’s bloody so-called war on drugs campaign.
El Abdallah said that the composition of the former president’s defense team would be based on the “evolution of the case.”
“Well, there is always one lead counsel and then the rest is defense team. There is a minimum defense team of counsel and other individuals,” he explained.
The camp of the former president has already hired British-Israeli lawyer Nicholas Kaufman and is still in the process of forming the rest of the elder Duterte’s legal team.
The Vice President earlier shared that there will be a Filipino lawyer in her father’s defense team as there will be facets of the case that involve Philippine laws.
“The evolution of the defense team depends, of course, on the evolution of the case, on number of the charges, and which phase of the process we are—the pre-trial or trial level—that might affect the constitution of the defense team and the number of members,” El Abdallah added.
The former chief executive faced the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber I on March 14 to officially hear the charges against him, as well as be informed of his rights under the Rome Statute.
His next hearing is set on Sept. 23 for the confirmation of charges.
Freeze order
Amid reports that the ICC will soon release a freeze order on the former president’s assets, the ICC spokesman admitted “it can happen at any stage.”
“It depends on what the judges would consider that is approriate to be done. It can be a legal order to be issued by the judges,” he said.
However, he also refused to speculate on the judges’ decision as “I prefer to wait for the judges to make the decision and then we can explain what are the basis.”
The ICC can consider freezing the assets of a suspect under trial, so the resources can be used as renumeration for the victims in case of a conviction.
The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), which will be tasked to decide whether to freeze the financial assets of the former president if the ICC orders it, said it has not received a formal request from the ICC.
Sample charges
El Abdallah also hinted that the 43 counts of murder against the former president is not yet the “final number.”
“Well, the judges took that as a sample of the potential alleged crimes. They didn’t say this is the final number which is potentially still open to additional request from the prosecutor-judges,” he explained.
“They took only it as a sample purpose for the purpose of the arrest warrant and not as final charge,” he added.
The Vice President earlier questioned the crimes against humanity of murder charge against her father, pointing out that only 43 alleged killings were presented in the case when critics and human rights groups argue that thousands have died in the former president’s “drug war.”
ICC jurisdiction
In a separate interview, the ICC spokesman also maintained jurisdiction over crimes committed in the Philippines until its withdrawal in March 2019 became final.
El Abdallah told GMA Integrated News that these are the crimes committed between 2011, when the Philippines became a member, and 2019, when the Duterte administration decided to withdraw from the Rome Statute.
He also said that the ICC judges will decide on the legality of the arrest of the former president, though he emphasized that the arrest of a suspect is dependent on the law of the surrendering country.
The former president was arrested on March 11 and subsequently sent to The Hague to remain in detention there while awaiting his trial.
While his camp is expected to question the constitutionality of his arrest and apply for an interim release, several legal experts noted that the ICC will maintain jurisdiction over a suspect regardless of the legality or illegality of his arrest by the surrendering state and that the Court has never approved an interim release for a suspect of crimes against humanity.