2017
April 24 – Jude Sabio, lawyer for confessed Davao Death Squad (DDS) hitman Edgar Matobato, files a complaint before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague against then President Rodrigo Duterte and 11 of his loyal allies, alleging crimes against humanity, citing the “continuing mass murder” in the Philippines that began when Duterte was mayor of Davao City.
June 6 – Former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and former Magdalo partylist Rep. Gary Alejano file a supplemental communication before the ICC, saying it was time for the international tribunal to step in and investigate Duterte for his war on drugs as the government has shown no interest in holding the president accountable for his alleged crimes against humanity.
2018
Feb. 8 – Malacañang says ICC will start its “preliminary examination” on the alleged extrajudicial killings in the Philippines under Duterte’s war on drugs.
March 14 – Duterte announces that the Philippines’ will withdraw from the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC.
March 17 – The Philippines deposits a written notification of withdrawal from the Statute with the UN Secretary General.
Aug. 28 – Activists and families of eight victims of the war on drugs form the group Rise Up for Life and for Rights. They filed a complaint in the ICC, accusing Duterte of murder and crimes against humanity.
2019
March 17 – The Philippines’ withdrawal from ICC takes effect. The ICC says it retains jurisdiction over alleged crimes that occurred in the country when it was a State Party to the Statute—from November 2011 to March 2019.
April – Duterte threatens to arrest ICC prosecutors if they continue their probe in the Philippines. He warns ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda that she is barred from entering the Philippines.
Oct. 3 – Rise Up for Life and for Rights files a supplemental pleading to Bensouda to bolster their case of crimes against humanity against Duterte.
December – The ICC determines there is sufficient basis to proceed with the investigation.
2020
Jan. 14 – Sabio withdraws his complaint, claiming it was part of the “political propaganda” of the opposition led by the Liberal Party. The ICC Office of the Prosecutor says his complaint “cannot be withdrawn” because the office has “an obligation to register whatever it receives.”
Butch Olano of Amnesty International says that even without Sabio’s complaint, 53 communications have been submitted to the ICC, all of which are being reviewed.
Dec. 14 – The ICC said in a report that the Office of the Prosecutor has found a “reasonable basis” to believe that crimes against humanity were committed in the Duterte administration’s war on drugs. These include murder, torture, infliction of serious physical injury, and mental harm.
2021
Feb. 12 – Lawyer and human rights expert Karim Khan of the United Kingdom elected as the next ICC prosecutor, replacing Bensouda, effective June 16.
February – Representing families of victims killed in the government’s bloody drug war, Rise Up for Life and for Rights submits more evidence against Duterte.
April 19 – The ICC Presidency assigned the case in the Philippines to the Pre-Trial Chamber.
June – Malacañang reiterates that Duterte will not cooperate in any probe since the Philippines is no longer a member of the ICC.
July – The Supreme Court rules that Duterte cannot invoke the Philippines’ withdrawal from the Rome Statute to skirt the investigation by the ICC prosecutor.
Voting unanimously, the 15-member tribunal held that the President could not arbitrarily terminate international agreements without the concurrence of the Senate. As a state party, it said the Philippines was bound to recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC and cooperate with its processes even after its withdrawal from the Rome Statute.
September – Former presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo reiterates that the Philippines will not cooperate with the ICC investigation. ICC investigators will not be allowed into the country to conduct the probe that was approved by the tribunal’s Pre-Trial Chamber (PTC).
Sept. 15 – The PTC authorizes the commencement of an investigation into crimes committed in the country between Nov. 1, 2011, and March 16, 2019, in connection with the “war on drugs.”
Nov. 10 – The Philippine government requests Khan to defer the investigation, citing the country’s own efforts to prove the allegations of extrajudicial killings. It was invoking Article 17 of the Rome Statute, which says the ICC should only intervene if national legal systems fail to prosecute such crimes.
November 18 – The ICC prosecutor informs the PTC that the Philippines requested that the investigation be deferred, resulting in a suspension of the investigation.
2022
June 24 – The ICC prosecutor requests a resumption of the investigation of the Philippine situation.
2023
Jan. 26 – The ICC PTC grants Khan’s request, citing the country’s failure to conduct relevant investigations into the case.
Feb. 3 – The Philippine government appeals the PTC’s authorization given to Khan.
March 27 – The appeals chamber rejects the Philippine request.
July 18 – The Appeals Chamber of the ICC denies the government’s motion for reconsideration, allowing the resumption of the probe by the chief prosecutor. President Marcos responds by saying that his administration would end further engagement with the ICC.
2024
October – Trillanes says he sent copies of the transcripts of the Senate and House hearings on Duterte’s drug war to the ICC as additional evidence. Duterte told the Senate he had a death squad, which he ordered to kill suspected drug offenders when he was mayor of Davao City.
November – Duterte appears in the House quad committee hearing. He reiterates that he will assume full responsibility for all the drug war killings and dares the ICC to “hurry up and to come here and start the investigation tomorrow.”
He says he “assume[s] full responsibility for whatever happened in the actions taken by the law enforcement agencies of this country, to stop the drugs or the serious problem of the drugs affecting our people.”
November – The ICC launches an “ICC witness appeal” microsite dedicated solely to collecting “credible information” on the drug war. The website aims to seek more potential witnesses to the atrocities allegedly committed by Duterte in his brutal war on drugs in another effort that could speed up the ongoing investigation of the crimes against humanity he is being accused of.
Sources: Inquirer Archives, icc-cpi.int