MANILA, Philippines — The International Criminal Court (ICC) allowed both the defense and prosecution to expand their lists of evidence in the case against former president Rodrigo Duterte, even as the court received hundreds of additional applications from individuals seeking to participate as victims in the proceedings. In a decision issued Wednesay, Pre-Trial Chamber I granted separate requests by Duterte’s defense team and the Office of the Prosecutor to add new material to their respective evidence lists. The Chamber authorized the defense to submit 78 additional items and permitted the prosecution to include two more. The defense, in its application filed on Feb. 6, said the prosecution had reviewed the 78 items and confirmed through inter partes communications that it did not oppose their admission. On the same day, the prosecution also filed its own request to add two items, noting that the defense had agreed not to object. The Common Legal Representatives of Victims informed the Chamber on Feb. 7 that they likewise did not oppose either request. In granting the applications, the judges said there was “good cause,” citing the limited scope of the additional material, its relevance to the charges, and the absence of objections from parties and participants. Both sides were ordered to submit updated lists of evidence by February 13. The ruling was issued by Presiding Judge Iulia Antoanella Motoc, together with Judges Reine Adélaïde Sophie Alapini-Gansou and María del Socorro Flores Liera.. Separately, the ICC disclosed that it had received 227 new victim applications in the same case, bringing the total number of applicants transmitted in the latest filing to 500. The court’s Registry submitted the applications to Pre-Trial Chamber I on Feb. 9, in compliance with a Jan. 28 order directing it to forward any additional Group A claims received within the initial deadline. The new batch followed a Jan. 26 decision by the Chamber authorizing 39 victims — 29 from an earlier Group A transmission and 10 from Group C — to participate in the pretrial proceedings. Under the Chamber’s definition, victims qualified if they were survivors or relatives of victims of murders or attempted murders committed from at least Nov. 1, 2011 to June 30, 2016 in and around Davao City, when Duterte was mayor, or from at least June 30, 2016 to March 16, 2019 across the Philippines, during his presidency. The newly submitted applications were contained in 227 annexes listed in a confidential Annex I. All annexes were classified as confidential ex parte and were accessible only to the Registry and the Common Legal Representatives of Victims, in line with procedures set out in the Chamber’s April 2025 order on confirmation proceedings. Duterte faced charges before the ICC in connection with the killings linked to his anti-drug campaign. His administration had previously rejected the court’s jurisdiction, but the ICC had ruled it could proceed with investigations into alleged crimes committed before the Philippines withdrew from the Rome Statute in 2019.