By ALFRED GABOT and CLAIRE MORALES TRUE

Editor in Chief and Managing Editor

THE HAGUE/MANILA  — The International Criminal Court (ICC) has officially accredited British-Israeli lawyer Nicholas Kaufman as the legal counsel of former president Rodrigo Duterte as Vice President Sara Duterte disclosed that former Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and former presidential spokesman Harry Roque will no longer be part of their legal team as more ICC-experienced foreign lawyers will be tapped to defend the former leader.

Kaufman, in his first interview with the media following his designation, said he was confident of the early acquittal of Mr. Duterte and return to the Philippines.

“I am very confident that he will be acquitted; indeed, even at the shortest time possible,” Kaufman told reporters.

This developed as the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines were placed on alert as protest rallies for and against Duterte were staged in Manila, Davao, Cagayan de Oro and key cities in the Philippines, the United States, the Netherlands and Europe.

PNP officers and men are bracing for more protests as calls for “peoplepower” demonstrations were echoed by protestors during their rallies and in social media and the PNP is ready for such eventualities, PNP spokesperson and Central Luzon police director Brig. Gen. Jean Fajardo said.

Duterte, who was arrested last March 11 in Manila, filed a signed letter on March 14 nominating Kaufman as his “lead defense counsel in the ICC proceedings.”

An ICC-accredited lawyer, Kaufman, who has 34 years of international law practice, promised to provide a strong defense even ashe is still in the process of completing the team and consulting Filipino lawyers.

Kaufman declined to provide details of his team’s defense strategy, but confirmed they would raise the issue of the former president’s arrest in the Philippines.

“We will be filing all necessary applications in due course,” he said. “(He) was completely denied all his rights in the Philippines. That will obviously be a heated argument in the course of his defense.”

Kaufman previously represented former Congo Vice President Jean Pierre Bemba and former Central African Republic (CAR) minister Maxime Mokom, who were also charged with crimes against humanity before the ICC.

Meanwhile, the Philippines remains deeply divided over  Duterte’s arrest for alleged crime against humanity.

If a recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey was to be believed, 51% of Filipinos believe Duterte should be held accountable for the drug-related killings that took place under his leadership while 25% disagree, 14% remain undecided, and 10% say they do not have enough information to form an opinion.

The Vice President said her father is in high spirit as he remains at The Hague Penitentiary Institution’s hospital facility as doctors have yet to approve his release to his regular cell.

“He’s at the hospital part of the detention facility. All of them there are patient-detainees. He has yet to be released by the doctor,” Duterte told reporters.

“Maybe he’s not yet all clear based on doctors’ assessments. But he’s in very good spirits,” she added.

The Vice President said doctors in the facility have been given her father’s medical records and have taken note of his medications.

While she has not seen where her father is staying, she assured his supporters that he is comfortable and feels like he is “staying at a hotel.”

“He told me he feels like staying in a hotel, but can’t get out,” Duterte said.

“I have to tell you: he is charming everyone inside. It’s his style, eh. He’s very friendly with people inside. They already exchange banters,” she added.

The former president, who is running for mayor of Davao City in the May 12 elections, is turning 80 on March 28. 

His next appearance before the tribunal is on Sept. 23.

In the Senate, Sen. Maria Imelda Imee Marcos, a sister of President Marcos, called for an urgent Senate investigation into the arrest of former President  Duterte. 

Sen. Marcos said that it is vital to establish whether due process was followed during the former president’s arrest, given the involvement of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) and the International Criminal Court (ICC).

 “As chairperson of the Senate committee on foreign relations, I am calling for an urgent investigation into the arrest of former President Duterte, an issue that has deeply divided the nation,” said Marcos in a statement 

In another development, the Supreme Court (SC)  denied the existence of a petition calling for President Marcos Jr.’s resignation and vowed to impose sanctions on peddlers of disinformation amid backlash on the arrerst of Duterte. 

In a statement, the Office of the SC spokesperson Camille Ting disowned a circulating document bearing the title “Supreme Court Receives Petition on 16 Million Signatures Calling for President Marcos’ Resignation,” stating that the office has never issued such a document.