International prosecutors at the International Criminal Court have accused former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte of deliberately exaggerating or fabricating cognitive problems in a last-ditch effort to stall his long-running case over alleged crimes against humanity linked to his brutal anti-drug campaign.
In a forceful submission to the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber I, prosecutors pushed for the immediate resumption of the confirmation of charges hearing, arguing that Duterte is medically and mentally fit to face proceedings and that claims of serious cognitive decline collapse under scrutiny.
The Office of the Prosecutor said a panel of independent medical experts unanimously concluded that Duterte understands the nature of the charges against him, the evidence being marshaled, and the legal consequences of the case moving forward.
Rather than confirming frailty, the experts reportedly found troubling signs of manipulation. Prosecutors said Duterte was an unreliable narrator of his own health, noting that he consistently underperformed during basic cognitive assessments in ways that specialists described as inconsistent with genuine impairment.
One cited example involved a simple memory test so rudimentary that even patients with moderate to severe impairment typically pass it—yet Duterte failed in a manner experts interpreted as deliberate underperformance.
According to the prosecution, all medical evaluators reached the same bottom line: Duterte’s complaints about his mental state could not be trusted, and there was no medical basis to halt or indefinitely suspend the case.
Prosecutors argued that allowing further delay would reward obstruction and undermine accountability for one of the bloodiest state-led campaigns in recent Philippine history.
The medical review was ordered after Duterte’s legal team sought an open-ended adjournment last August, citing health concerns. The ICC subsequently appointed three experts, later adding a fourth, all of whom submitted their findings earlier this month. Their reports, prosecutors said, gave the court more than enough basis to move forward.
While rejecting Duterte’s claim of incapacity, prosecutors nevertheless signaled flexibility on logistics, acknowledging his physical limitations due to age. They deferred to the court on proposed schedule adjustments, including shorter hearing days, fewer consecutive sessions, later start times, and frequent breaks. These accommodations, the prosecution stressed, were about humane treatment—not proof of incompetence.
Victims’ counsel echoed the call to proceed, warning that continued delays prolong suffering and erode faith in international justice for families of those killed during the drug war.
Duterte’s camp, however, doubled down on its resistance. In a separate filing, his lawyers attacked the expert reports as internally inconsistent and insisted his short-term memory is severely compromised. They claimed his inability to retain information makes it impossible for him to give stable instructions or meaningfully participate in a trial, portraying the former president as a man adrift rather than a calculating defendant.
Yet even the defense’s own arguments appeared to undercut their narrative. While disputing the experts’ conclusions, they acknowledged that none of the specialists found Duterte entirely free of memory problems—only that his poor test results were driven by underperformance. Crucially, prosecutors seized on that point, arguing that underperformance without medical explanation strongly suggests intentional evasion rather than illness.
The defense also questioned why the experts relied primarily on Duterte’s 2025 medical records instead of earlier files from the Philippines, and demanded disclosure of all communications between the ICC Registry and the medical panel. They are seeking a separate evidentiary hearing to challenge the experts before the court rules definitively on Duterte’s fitness.
For prosecutors, the pattern is clear. After years of denying wrongdoing, defying international scrutiny, and dismissing victims’ pleas, Duterte is now, they argue, attempting to hide behind manufactured frailty.
In their view, the medical findings strip away that final shield—leaving the former strongman with no remaining excuse to avoid facing the charges arising from a campaign that left thousands dead and a nation still demanding accountability.