Two senior officials, Sen. Bong Go and former Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre, have denied allegations by the International Criminal Court that they were co-perpetrators in crimes against humanity related to former President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war. In separate statements, they rejected any involvement in the anti-drug campaign. This follows an ICC redacted filing dated February 13, 2026.
In Manila, Philippines, Sen. Bong Go issued a statement on February 14, 2026, calling the ICC allegations 'entirely unfounded, one-sided and unfair.' He stated that they bear no relation to his roles as Special Assistant to the President from June 2016 to October 2018, and as Executive Assistant to the Mayor of Davao City from 1998 to 2016. 'At no time did I have any involvement in, knowledge of, or authority over these allegations,' he said. He also clarified that he was never Chief of the Presidential Management Staff.
Former Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre similarly rejected the claims on February 14, insisting 'I did nothing wrong.' In Tagalog, he said, 'Wala akong kinalaman sa akusasyon nila sa akin ng crimes against humanity.' He believes some people are trying to link him to the drug war to make extrajudicial killings appear as a national policy of the Duterte administration, lending credibility to the accusations against former President Rodrigo Duterte.
The ICC's publicly released redacted filing, dated February 13, 2026, names eight individuals as Duterte’s alleged 'associates' who shared a 'common plan' to neutralize suspected criminals through violent crimes such as murder from November 1, 2011, to March 16, 2019, first in Davao City and later nationwide. Besides Aguirre and Go, those named include former Philippine National Police chiefs Sen. Bato Dela Rosa and Oscar Albayalde, former Davao police chiefs Vicente Danao and Isidro Lapeña, Dante Gierran, former Davao Regional Director of the National Bureau of Investigation, and Camilo Cascolan, former finance chief of the Davao Region Police Office, who passed away on November 24, 2023, due to pneumonia as a complication of stage 4 lung cancer.
After months of delay, the confirmation of charges against Duterte will proceed on February 23, following ICC judges' determination that he is fit to participate in pre-trial proceedings.
