Is ex-ally of Philippines’ Duterte set to give ICC drug war’s ‘smoking gun’ proof?
The former police colonel has flown to Malaysia ‘to meet with the ICC’, according to Manila’s justice secretary
At the same time, Duterte’s defence team is seeking to delay the ICC case against him and secure his interim release on health grounds.
Royina Garma, an ex-police colonel who served Duterte while he was mayor of Davao City, was reportedly scheduled to meet ICC lawyers ahead of a planned trial against Duterte over charges of crimes against humanity.
On Monday, Philippine Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla told reporters that Garma had flown from Manila to Malaysia “to meet with the ICC”. He added that his department had given consent for Garma’s court appearance and “if she’s going to be a witness to the ICC, we have said that our working relationship with the ICC involves witness protection”.
Joel Butuyan, one of five Filipino lawyers accredited in an ICC list, told This Week in Asia on Tuesday that while “the ICC does not confirm or deny matters like this”, Garma’s involvement in the case appeared credible given that the remarks about the meeting came from Remulla.
Referring to a series of hearings last year before the House of Representatives’ Quad Committee that drew public attention to the so-called “Davao model”, Butuyan said that “for the ICC, Garma is a key witness, judging by what she had explosively disclosed during the Quadcomm hearings”.