MANILA - It is an admission of guilt.

Former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay had this to say regarding President Rodrigo Duterte's revelation on Thursday that his "only sin" was extra-judicial killings.

"The ICC (International Criminal Court) should consider that as a formal and public admission of guilt on the part of the president. Ganun lang ka-simple iyon," he said Thursday after a meeting with Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.

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Hilbay said he already referred the matter to ICC's social media pages.

"The burden is on Malacanang to justify that it's just a joke or something that should be taken lightly. But the ICC should not take that very lightly, and I'm quite confident they would take it rather seriously," he said.

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Duterte's remark about the rice crisis brought by reformed drug addicts also didn't sit well with Hilbay.

"It's funny if it weren't so tragic. That's a problem for a president who has a very limited vocabulary," he said.

Hilbay added, "If everything is about drugs, then even something as important as the price of rice, controlling inflation will be seen from the lens of the war on drugs, which is very sad and very unfortunate for many of our countrymen who are suffering."

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Hilbay is part of Trillanes' legal team who will argue the nullification of the senator's grant of amnesty following the issuance of Duterte's Proclamation 572.

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