THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Legal counsel for former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has formally requested the International Criminal Court (ICC) to compel prosecutors to significantly reduce and reorganize the evidence presented against him, citing an overwhelming volume of disorganized documents.
In a motion submitted to ICC Trial Chamber III on Friday, September 25, the defense team—led by British barrister Peter Haynes, KC—revealed that prosecutorial disclosures surged from 5,275 items during the confirmation stage to 62,130 items.
The defense stated it has “no ability to read this volume of evidence prior to trial,” noting that reviewing the more than 320,000 pages and 1,000 multimedia files would require an estimated 16,000 person-hours.
”The sheer volume of material, disclosed to the Defence three months before the start of trial, undermines Mr. Duterte’s right to adequate time for the preparation of his defence,” the defense stated in the court filing.
Beyond the sheer quantity, defense lawyers criticized the quality of the materials as “abysmal,” alleging widespread errors in dates, descriptions, and metadata. The filing highlighted numerous duplicate files—including a single photograph of a light fixture disclosed 21 times—alongside illegible documents, untranscribed recordings, and detached pages.
Furthermore, the defense argued that much of the material lacks direct relevance to the charges. Out of the total files, fewer than 5,000 mention “Duterte,” under 500 reference the “Davao Death Squad,” and a subset of 44,000 drug-death records appears untriaged.
The motion also noted that certain AI-summarized records within the disclosure characterize local police drug investigations as thorough, which could potentially favor the former president.
”The current case record is unworkable and is of a quality that falls far below the standard expected in any criminal trial,” the defense concluded.
To preserve the scheduled November 30 trial date and prevent postponements, the defense requested the chamber to order prosecutors to produce a new, properly triaged record capped at 10,000 items by October 7.