In an attempt to prove that the exit of former president Rodrigo Duterte from power did not stop the killings, defense counsel Nicholas Kaufman argued that deaths at the hands of state agents continued under the Marcos administration.

During the third day of the confirmation of charges hearing at the International Criminal Court (ICC), Kaufman attempted to establish that the figures of killings under the current administration kept rising.

"Here I would like to show you the statistics pertaining to the rate of killings since the former president has left power and the responsibility for law and order has passed into the hands of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.," Duterte's counsel said during the second session of the third day of hearings on Thursday, Feb. 26.

"I rely on a report published by academics at the third-world study center in the University of the Philippines in the context of what is called the Dahas Project and trust me, the authors of this report, comprising weekly statistics on the first year of the Marcos administration from 2022 to 2023 are no great friends of the former president Mr. Duterte," he added.

"The report for the first year of the Marcos administration showed that out of 342 killings, 160 were at the hands of state agents," he presented.

He went on saying: "And the figures and the statistics kept on rising. With the second year of the Marcos administration, 2023 to 2024, showed an increase in deaths at the hands of vigilantes, or be it a decrease at the hands of law enforcement officers. From 46.8 percent to 34 percent, hardly a statistic to be proud of."

Kaufman argued that there is no reason to believe that the killings would stop after Duterte's exit from the government.

"The conclusion is that there is no reason to believe that Duterte's disappearance from the political scene would have frustrated the ongoing incidents of murder at the hands of state agents or vigilantes," Kaufman said.

He also raised the question of whether President Marcos would also be investigated over such killings, and whether victims would clamor for accountability.

"Clearly, I'm forced to ask myself whether anyone on the other side of this room has thought of investigating the Marcos regime and their related phenomenon and holding someone accountable," he said before concluding the third day's second session.

"While my colleagues sitting to the right, the victims' representatives, not clamoring accountability for those deaths, or is it of no consequence now that Mr. Duterte is sitting at the ICC detention center," he added.