Defending Duterte News Today

Pilar is still grieving for her son who was killed under Duterte's war on drugs in 2016. But being with other mothers has helped her handle the pain.

Lourdes says it's okay if the ICC focuses on Rodrigo Duterte, instead of the person who pulled the trigger. It was Duterte who ordered the 'slaughter' of his own countrymen anyway.

Vera knows it was the police who killed her husband with one shot to the head in 2016. Not trusting the Philippines' domestic system, she hopes the ICC would give her and her family justice.

Human rights groups say there are gaps between the discourse of the Marcos administration and the reality on the ground

President Marcos 'maintains the same policies and the same climate of impunity that had led Duterte and his minions to get away with murder,' says Karapatan secretary-general Cristina Palabay

Amnesty International secretary-general Agnes Callamard says national investigations into extrajudicial killings under the Duterte administration 'should not shy away from going as high as it must be into the chain of command and chain of responsibilities'

Amnesty International in its latest report says that 'unlawful killings under the war on drugs continued and impunity for thousands of past killings remain entrenched'