Lawyer Neri Colmenares (left); Vice President Sara Duterte (Facebook)

Former Bayan Muna Party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares went on full lawyer mode as he poked holes into Vice President Sara Duterte's claim that the International Criminal Court (ICC) case against her father would get junked due to the lack of proof that there were 30,000 deaths in the war on drugs.

"As a lawyer I was expecting VP Sara Duterte to base her statements regarding the case, on the complaints and pleadings officially filed in the ICC rather than media reports," Colmenares said in a statement Monday, March, 31.

Over the weekend, the impeached Vice President was quoted as saying that the crimes against humanity charge against her dad, former president Rodrigo Duterte, won't hold water because there would be no way to prove the drug war critics' claim that 30,000 people died during the campaign.

But Colmenares said the figure doesn't really matter.

"The complaint we filed in the ICC listed 3,427 killed as of July 31, 2018 because this was the number of victims killed as officially admitted by the PNP (Philippine National Police). Our complaint did not state any number other than that admitted by Pres. Rodrigo Duterte's PNP because as lawyers, we want to base our complaint on official figures," said the Makabayan leader.

Colmenares said that the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) under Duterte would later acknowledge that 6,252 were killed during the drug war.

"Whose complaint or what pleading VP Duterte got her 30,000 is surprising for us since that was not the number in any of the pleadings we filed in the ICC," the ex-congressman said.

He then challenged Vice President Duterte, who is also a lawyer, to put her money where her mouth is.

"If she thinks that her father cannot be convicted because he only ordered the killing of less than 30,000 people then she is dead wrong. We challenge VP Duterte and her lawyers to use this 'less than 30,000 deaths' argument in the confirmation hearing if they really believe that failure to prove 30,000 deaths is not crime against humanity," he said.

"In any case, if she plans to lawyer for Pres. Duterte she should know that the Rome Statute does not require a specific number to prove crimes against humanity," added Colmenares.

The Makabayan leader confidently said that the elder Duterte "lose in the Confirmation Hearing if he uses this 'less than 30,000 deaths' to claim that there is no case of crime against humanity against him".

He continued: "Dominic Owen was convicted in 2021 for 61 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes for his attacks in Northern Uganda from 2002 to 2005 and was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment."

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https://mb.com.ph/2025/3/26/Luistro-advises-vp-duterte-to-take-advantage-of-impeachment-process

"Bosco Ntaganda was convicted in 2019 on 5 counts of crime against humanity for his attacks against civilians in a district in Congo and was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment. His co-perpetrator Germain Katanga was convicted by the ICC in 2014 for one count of crimes against humanity and four counts of war crimes for his attacks in the same district in Congo and was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment," he added

"Based on these ICC decisions, there is no way that the ICC will release Pres. Duterte because less than 30,000 killed are not serious enough to be considered crimes against humanity, ” Colmenares said.

"The issue isn’t just about the exact number of dead—it’s about a president openly ordering killings, police acting with impunity, and a justice system that failed victims. The ICC exists precisely because powerful figures like Duterte evade local accountability. Whether it’s 30 or 30,000, state-sponsored murder is a crime against humanity," he concluded.