Former president Rodrigo Duterte is the most responsible individual in the killings of thousands of victims during the war on drugs for ordering the operations as the commander-in-chief at that time.

On the last day of the confirmation of charges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday, Feb. 27, ICC Prosecutor Julian Nicholls asserted that Duterte was indeed the most responsible person in the killings during the bloody drug war, and not the people whom he ordered to commit the murders.

"We're here in this court to prosecute the most responsible, and the most responsible is his client, former president Duterte. Not the people on the ground who committed the killings, they are responsible, but they are not the most responsible, and unlike his client, the ones who have come forward have shown remorse for what they have done," Nicholls said.

"His client repeatedly admitted committing the crimes we're here for—his killings of his own people, the Filipino people," Nicholls stressed.

The prosecutor pointed out that Duterte was "proud of his killings" and "claims that he did it all for his own country."

"He's proud of his killings. He wants to be remembered for decades of murdering his own people, murdering the children of the Philippines. And he claims that he did it all for his own country. He doesn't deny it. He says it's a necessary evil, it's for the greater good. It doesn't matter how many kids I have to kill. I'll clean up the Philippines," Nicholls said.

Nicholls also argued that "it's not a surprise" that killings, including the deaths of Rolando Espinosa and Raul Yap, can be done given that Duterte has appointed key officials who could allow the incidents to happen.

"Mr. Duterte moved co-perpetrators from Davao to Manila and appointed them to high positions. So, when he appointed the chief of police, and part of the chief of police's job is to kill thousands of people. It's not a surprise that the police reports don't reflect that," Nicholls said.

"If they decide to murder Mr. Espinosa and Mr. Yap, while they are held in jail, it's not a surprise that can be done when mr. Duterte appoints the head of the Department of Justice," Nicholls added.

The ICC prosecutor also asserted that "when they are committing their crimes, they don't put it on writing often."

He also pointed out that Yap and Espinosa "were noted as neutralized on the list, not on the day they are arrested, not on the day they go to jail. They are marked neutralized on the days they are killed. So, they were neutralized at the time they were murdered."

Duterte's words, while being the most powerful man in the Philippines, were treated as policy and should be obeyed.

The common legal representative for victims, Gilbert Andres, countered the defense's downplaying of Duterte's remarks to prove criminal liability.

"Under the Philippine Constitution, the Executive power shall be vested in the President of the Philippines. Whatever the President publicly states is policy," Andres said in his closing statement.

"And in the Philippine cultural context, when there is strong respect for those in government positions, especially the President as head of state and as head of government, the words of the President are to be obeyed no matter what," he stressed.

"Mr. Duterte was and is indeed a unique phenomenon in the public and vulgar way in which he used his words to dehumanize the victims of his anti-drugs campaign, to excuse their murder, to shape the Filipino psyche to his murderous rhetoric, and to predispose the government agencies under his presidency to follow his words as Presidential policy and as orders. And the record shows that everything Mr. Duterte exhorts, the killing, the murders of alleged drug users, people are murdered all over the Philippines," Andres furthered.

According to Andres, the victims believe that "the prosecution presented sufficient evidence to establish substantial grounds to believe that Mr. Rodrigo Roa Duterte committed each of the crimes charged."

He said all charges should be confirmed, and Duterte committed to trial.

"The victims want these charges to be confirmed because they want to be reintegrated into their communities. They are still in the shadows of fake news of fear and of threats from Mr. Duterte's supporters. Hence, it's important that all these charges be confirmed against Mr. Duterte so that the victims of these crimes will be taken out of the shadow of darkness into the light of truth and justice," Andres concluded.