FORMER President Rodrigo Duterte’s legal team is fighting to prevent his impending international trial from being buried under what they describe as a “mountain of evidence,” accusing the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecution of deploying a “quantity over quality” strategy.
In a nine-page public filing dated June 5, 2026, titled “Defence Submissions on the Directions on the Conduct of Proceedings,” the defense formally petitioned Trial Chamber III to enforce strict gatekeeping measures before the trial gets underway.
The defense’s legal move comes in response to an overwhelming wave of discovery from the prosecution, which has already disclosed 5,177 items of evidence, has another 13,284 items currently under review, and plans to call up to 41 witnesses to the stand.
Alleging that the sheer volume is a tactical attempt to overwhelm the proceedings, the defense is demanding that Trial Chamber III judges—Presiding Judge Joanna Korner, Judge Keebong Paek, and Judge Nicolas Guillou—impose firm limits on the number of documents allowed into the official record.
Specifically, the defense targeted the prosecution’s use of Rule 68 of the ICC Rules of Procedure and Evidence, claiming the provision is being utilized as a “backdoor” to introduce bulky, standalone documents without sufficient scrutiny.
To level the playing field, Duterte’s lawyers are demanding a clearer, more rigorous roadmap for each projected prosecution witness, stricter evidentiary gatekeeping, and expanded flexibility for the defense during cross-examinations.
