What penalty awaits a former head of state or other parties found guilty of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court?

Kristina Conti, ICC assistant to counsel and secretary general of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers - National Capital Region, said the investigation on crimes against humanity in the Philippines' war on drugs is not meant to discover if there were killings "but who is responsible, who ordered it and who benefited."

Asked what penalty awaits those found guilty of crimes against humanity, she said: "Kulong po."

"Kung hindi ako nagkakamali aabot ito ng 10 taong pagkakakulong sa detention facility ng isang miyembro ng ICC," she said in a TeleRadyo Serbisyo.

She said the accused could be brought to the ICC detention facility during the length of the trial. If convicted, the person would then be brought to a detention facility of an ICC member.

"Dahil hindi na tayo miyembro ng ICC, sa kahit anong miyembro ng ICC na penal facility, pwede," she said.

The ICC Appeals Chamber backed the Pre-Trial Chamber’s January 2023 ruling authorizing the ICC Prosecutor to continue its probe on the killings in the Philippines in connection with former President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war and the so-called Davao Death Squad.

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It rejected the Philippines’ argument that the ICC no longer had jurisdiction over the country because at the time that the ICC Prosecutor was given initial authority to start its probe in September 2021, the Philippines’ withdrawal from the ICC had taken effect since March 2019.

Duterte pulled the Philippines out of the ICC in 2019, a year after the Hague-based tribunal began a preliminary probe into the crackdown which has killed thousands.

At least 6,181 people were killed in more than 200,000 anti-drug operations, according to the latest official data released by the Philippine government. ICC prosecutors estimate the death toll at between 12,000 and 30,000.