ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro (left), Vice President Sara Duterte (PPAB, Facebook)

Another Makabayan bloc leader has challenged Vice President Sara Duterte to put her money where her mouth is as far as her father's crimes against humanity charge before the International Criminal Court (ICC) is concerned.

According to senatorial aspirant ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro, the Vice President--a lawyer--should testify in the ICC case of her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, particularly on the topic of the Duterte administration's anti-illegal drug campaign.

The elder Duterte is being detained and tried at the ICC for the bloody conduct of the war, which according to his critics took the lives of an estimated 30,000 Filipinos by way of extrajudicial killings (EJKs).

Earlier, Vice President Duterte called the lawyer of the EJK victims’ families “stupid” for not submitting all supposed 30,000 names of the drug war fatalities to the court, if they really wanted to prove the alleged carnage of the campaign. 

"Yung challenge ko sa kanya tumestigo siya at sabihin niya doon sa ICC (My challenge to her is for her to testify so that she can say it to the ICC)," Castro, a House deputy minority leader, told reporters in an interview Tuesday, April 1.

"Wag niyang pagtakpan yung krimen ng kanyang tatay sa pamamagitan ng pang iinsulto lalo at insulto rin yan doon sa libu-libong mga biktima, libu-libong pamilya na biktima ng [EJKs],” said the militant solon. 

(She shouldn't cover up her father's crime by using insults, especially since it's also an insult to thousands of victims, thousands of the EJK victims' families.)

The EJK victims' counsel submitted only 181 pieces of evidence. For Castro, even one, two, or four death under such war on drugs is already "alarming".

READ THIS:

https://mb.com.ph/2025/3/31/colmenares-dares-vp-to-use-less-than-30-000-deaths-argument-in-dad-s-icc-case

The veteran solon had more choice words for the impeached Vice President regarding her "stupid" remark.

"Pinakita niya lang siguro na mas istupido siya dahil alam na alam naman niya na noong panahon ng tatay niya ay talagang sinikil ang justice system (She just showed that she's probably more stupid because she know very well that the justice system was shackled during her father's time)."

Just days earlier, lawyer Neri Colmenares of Bayan Muna--which is also part of the militant Makabayan bloc--dared Vice President Duterte and the rest of ex-president Duterte's defense team to use the "less than 30,000 deaths" argument in court and show her conviction.

"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," Colmenares said.

The ICC is based at The Hague in the Netherlands.