A lawyer is speaking out against something that many people think is unfair.
Some families lost their loved ones during former President Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs.” Now, they are trying to get justice at a special court called the International Criminal Court (ICC) — a place where big crimes like mass killings are investigated.
But something upsetting just happened.
A lawyer named Atty. Joel Butuyan is defending the families of the people who were killed. He said that Mr. Duterte’s team wants the victims to show special ID cards before they can be part of the case. These ID cards include things like passports, driver’s licenses, or IDs from big offices like SSS or GSIS.
But here’s the problem:
These poor families don’t have those kinds of IDs. They are among the poorest of the poor in the Philippines. Many of them don’t have money to travel, drive, or apply for official documents.
Atty. Butuyan said that the IDs being asked for are “badges of wealth and privilege.” That means only rich or well-off people usually have them. So if you’re very poor, you probably won’t have those kinds of ID cards.
The lawyer who works for Mr. Duterte, named Nicholas Kaufman, told the court that they want to make sure only real victims can join the case. He said they are worried about fake claims or slow court processes, so the solution is to accept only IDs like passports or national ID cards with photos.
But Butuyan fired back. He said that Kaufman clearly doesn’t understand life in the Philippines. He believes Kaufman doesn’t realize how poor the victims are — and how most of them were never given the chance to get those fancy IDs in the first place.
“They’ve already lost someone they love,” Butuyan said. “Now, they’re being told they can’t ask for justice just because they don’t have expensive IDs? That’s not fair at all.”
He also got angry at another suggestion from Duterte’s team — that the victims should be represented by a group chosen by them, called the Office of Public Counsel for Victims. But Butuyan said that this idea is “abhorrent,” which means very wrong and offensive.
He said, “No way. The people who lost family members should be the ones to decide who speaks for them — not the lawyer of the man accused of killing them.”
In the end, Butuyan wants the court to remember:
These families are already hurting. They shouldn’t have to go through more pain just because they are poor. They deserve to be heard — and they deserve justice.
Former President Duterte is now in The Hague, Netherlands, where the International Criminal Court is based. He was arrested on March 11, and his next big hearing — where the court will decide if the charges against him are strong enough — is set for September 23.
