The Manila Times
MANILA, Philippines — The legal team for former president Rodrigo Duterte has dismissed a prosecution request as 'unnecessary,' pushing back against what it described as implied insinuations of professional misconduct. In a public filing dated March 26, 2026, the defense responded to a confidential prosecution request submitted on March 5, rejecting suggestions that counsel might be violating Article 8 of the Code of Professional Conduct. “Since spring is in the air and Counsel is feeling remarkably benevolent, he will not take offence at the unnecessary nature of the Request and its implied suggestion (or rather insinuation) that he might be violating Article 8 of the Professional Conduct,” lead defense counsel Nicholas Kaufman said in the filing. The response addressed five specific points that remain redacted in the public version, relating to restrictions or conditions imposed on the defense team and Duterte himself. Kaufman also criticized the prosecution for what he called an “unabated passion for scrutinizing the media coverage of this case,” advising the Senior Trial Lawyer to “abide by the adage ‘not to believe everything he reads in the papers’ – unless, of course, it relates to Mr Duterte’s innocence.” The filing was submitted to Pre-Trial Chamber I, presided over by Judge Iulia Antoanella Motoc. Duterte faces charges at the International Criminal Court over alleged crimes committed during his presidency’s anti-drug campaign. He was taken into ICC custody and is currently held at the court’s detention center in The Hague.
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