MANILA – As the confirmation of charges hearing against former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte got underway before Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, a misleading claim resurfaced online: that only 78 people were killed in Duterte’s war on drugs.
A Facebook video circulating as of February 23, viewed more than 1,400 times, claims the ICC confirmed that the number of drug war victims was only 78—contradicting estimates that place the toll in the thousands.
But a closer reading of the same ICC document cited in the video shows otherwise.
This INQFocus explainer breaks down what the ICC document says, what “78” refers to, and why the claim is false and misleading.
The claim: ’78 victims only’
The video cites the ICC’s Public Lesser Redacted Version of the “Document Containing the Charges,” released Feb. 13, 2026.
It features on-screen text claiming: “War on drugs victims hindi 30,000, kundi 78 lang” (“War on drugs victims are not 30,000, but only 78”) and “Anti-Duterte sinungaling?” (“Are anti-Duterte critics liars?”).
It also carries the caption: “Kung may ghost projects, meron ding ghost victims?” (If there are ghost projects, are there also ghost victims?).
In the video narration, the speaker says:
“Nagtatanong lang, nasaan na kaya yung 30,000 na diumano’y naging biktima ng war on drugs ni Digong? Batay kasi sa inilabas na dokumento ng ICC ngayong araw lang, umabot lamang sa 78 ang naging biktima ng war on drugs ni Digong. So nasaan na ang sinasabing 30,000 ng mga anti-Duterte?”
(Just asking, where are the 30,000 who were supposedly victims of Digong’s war on drugs? Because, based on the document released by the ICC just today, the victims of Digong’s war on drugs only reached 78. So where is the 30,000 being claimed by anti-Duterte critics?)
The video adds: “Mas marami pa ang naging biktima ng NPA na umabot sa 60,000 base sa numerong inilabas ng National Security Council of the Philippines. Anyare?”
(Even the NPA had more victims, reaching 60,000, based on the numbers released by the National Security Council of the Philippines. What happened?)
The video presents the ICC document as proof that only 78 people died in Duterte’s drug war.
That interpretation is incorrect.
What the ICC document says
A closer reading of the same ICC document shows the figure 78 refers only to the victims included in the incidents charged—not the total number of people killed in the anti-drug campaign.
In the Public Lesser Redacted Version of the “Document Containing the Charges,” prosecutors describe the killings cited in the charges as part of a broader pattern of alleged crimes spanning Duterte’s years as Davao City mayor and later as president.
The document states the attack “comprised multiple acts contrary to article 7(1) of the Rome Statute (amounting to a course of conduct) directed against the civilian population of the Philippines, including but not limited to the 76 murders and two attempted murders charged in this DCC, as well as at least hundreds of other murders during the Mayoral period, thousands of other murders in the Presidential period, and other violent crimes under article 7(1).”
Elsewhere, the same document says “the attack was widespread” and part of a “systematic attack against a civilian population,” adding that “the attack included thousands of killings, which were perpetrated consistently throughout the charged period.”
Crucially, the same record clarifies that the incidents cited are not exhaustive. It notes that the arrest warrant application referred to a “non-exhaustive list of incidents.”
In other words, the 78 victims listed in the charging document represent only a portion of the alleged crimes examined by the court, not the full number of killings linked to the anti-drug campaign.
Why only 78 appear in the charges
The number 78 reflects how ICC cases are structured, not the total number of deaths under investigation.
Under ICC procedure, prosecutors are required to present sufficient incidents to establish the legal elements of the crimes charged, not to list every alleged victim in a large-scale campaign. The focus at the confirmation stage is on whether there are substantial grounds to proceed, not on producing a nationwide accounting of deaths.
In the Pre-Confirmation Brief, also released Feb. 13, prosecutors explain that the incidents cited in the charges were selected within the court’s jurisdiction and legal scope.
The document states that the incidents listed “occurred in the context of the same attack against the civilian population, within the same temporal and geographic scope and relate to the same target groups, and thus form part of the same counts.”
It adds that “each of the 49 incidents falls within the same ‘course of conduct involving the commission of multiple acts against the civilian population on the territory of the Philippines’.”
The broader scale of killings is described elsewhere in ICC records. In its Sept. 15, 2021, decision authorizing the investigation, Pre-Trial Chamber I noted:
“The Prosecutor estimates the total number of civilians killed in connection with the so-called ‘war on drugs’ campaign between July 2016 and March 2019 appears to be between 12,000 and 30,000.”
The document further stated that “the estimates of the number of killed persons range from 12,000 to 30,000. [T]he Philippine authorities themselves reported that at least 5,281 persons were killed during police anti-drug operations between July 2016 and March 2019.”
Selecting a limited number of incidents is a common practice in international trials to establish patterns while keeping proceedings manageable.
The broader death toll: What multiple sources show
The widely cited figures in the thousands come from multiple independent sources, including Philippine government data, academic monitoring, international investigators, and human rights groups, each using different methods to measure the scale of killings linked to the drug war.
Because these figures rely on different definitions and data sources, they do not always match. They capture different layers of the same campaign.
Different counts reflect different methodologies:
- 78 victims: Subset of killings forming the legal basis of the ICC charges
- 7Around 6,000 deaths: Official government tally of people killed in police anti-drug operations
- 712,000 to 30,000 deaths: Estimate cited by the ICC prosecutor in its 2021 pretrial findings
- 7Up to 30,000 deaths: Estimates by human rights groups, including vigilante-style killings and deaths outside police operations
The ICC itself has acknowledged these varying figures in its records, noting that estimates of civilians killed in connection with the drug war range widely depending on sources and scope.
Academic monitoring has also attempted to document the killings independently.
In 2021, a University of the Philippines (UP) research team tracking drug-related violence recorded 3,859 killings from July 2016 to June 2021 based on verified media reports. The researchers noted that killings averaged at least two per day, even years into the campaign.
Same narrative keeps resurfacing
The claim that the ICC has identified only a limited number of drug war deaths has surfaced at earlier stages of the case.
In 2025, after the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Duterte, several social media posts referenced an earlier court document and claimed the case involved only 43 killings. These posts argued that 43 deaths are insufficient to warrant a charge of crimes against humanity, with some individuals pointing out that more people die from accidents each day.
In a previous INQFocus report, Inquirer noted that the figure referred to specific incidents cited in the warrant, not the total number of deaths linked to the drug war.
Similar arguments are now being raised with the number 78, drawn from the ICC charging document. In both instances, the figures came from legal filings that listed selected incidents forming part of the charges.
Some supporters of the former president have argued that if thousands had been killed, the ICC would have cited all of them individually. Others have suggested that the lower number reflects the strength or weakness of the prosecution’s case.
However, ICC procedure does not require prosecutors to enumerate every alleged killing at the confirmation stage. Under international criminal law, prosecutors must present sufficient incidents to establish that the alleged acts formed part of a “widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population,” the legal threshold for crimes against humanity.
As earlier ICC filings and decisions show, the court has consistently referred to a broader range of alleged killings beyond those specifically cited in the counts. The numbers listed in particular documents, whether 43 in earlier filings or 78 in the current charging document, reflect the incidents prosecutors chose to anchor the charges, not a comprehensive tally of all reported deaths linked to the campaign.
Where the case stands now
The ICC’s confirmation of charges hearing against former President Rodrigo Duterte is underway in The Hague.
From February 23 to 27, judges from Pre-Trial Chamber I are hearing detailed arguments from the prosecution, the defense and lawyers representing victims’ interests. The purpose of this proceeding is not to decide guilt or innocence, but to determine whether there is enough evidence to confirm the charges and allow the case to proceed to a full trial.
In The Hague, the prosecution is presenting evidence to establish “substantial grounds to believe” Duterte committed the crimes against humanity charged, particularly murder. Under ICC procedure, this standard is higher than the “reasonable grounds” required for the issuance of an arrest warrant, but it does not determine guilt.
Duterte’s legal team may challenge the prosecution’s evidence, object to the charges, and present its own arguments, while judges also consider submissions from lawyers representing participating victims.
The confirmation hearing is not a trial and does not result in a verdict. Instead, judges have up to 60 days after the hearing concludes to decide whether to confirm some, all or none of the charges based on the evidence presented.
If the Pre-Trial Chamber confirms the charges, the case will move to the next phase of proceedings, where the prosecution can present additional evidence and witnesses within the scope of the confirmed charges, and the defense can develop its case further.
Across the Philippines and abroad, the case continues to attract attention from victims’ groups, legal experts and human rights organizations as the confirmation process unfolds.
ANN/Philippine Daily Inquirer
