The legal team of former Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is asking the International Criminal Court (ICC) to impose stricter safeguards on digital evidence ahead of his November 30 trial, warning that the sheer volume of materials could make it difficult to separate credible evidence from unreliable or irrelevant content.
In a filing submitted on September 3, 2026, Duterte’s defense asked ICC Trial Chamber III to amend the court’s E-Court Protocol to include an “Expert Verification” field for electronic evidence.
The defense said prosecutors have substantially expanded their evidence disclosures. The number of items has reportedly grown from about 5,000 during the confirmation stage to more than 25,000, with further materials expected to be submitted before trial.
According to the defense, a significant portion of the evidence consists of open-source and user-generated content obtained online. It argued that such materials can present challenges when it comes to determining their authenticity, origin and reliability.
The defense said the proposed addition of a URL field to the electronic court system would not be enough to address those concerns. A web address may identify where content was found, it argued, but does not establish who originally created it, whether it has been modified, or how it was collected and preserved.
The lawyers also pointed to the enormous amount of online activity surrounding Duterte’s case in the Philippines. They said the scale of digital discussions and materials connected to the proceedings is unusually large for an ICC case, increasing the possibility that inaccurate or manipulated information could be submitted.
As a solution, the defense wants the court’s E-Court Protocol to include an “Expert Verification” field indicating whether digital evidence has been examined by an expert and supported by a verification report.
The proposed reports would, according to the defense, provide information about the source of the material, its chain of custody and metadata, as well as the methods used to determine whether it had been altered or manipulated.
The parties have already agreed to add a URL metadata field to the system but have not reached an agreement on the proposed expert-verification requirement.
The defense further raised concerns about platforms such as OTPLink, where individuals can submit information directly to prosecutors, including through anonymous submissions. It cited the large number of files submitted through the platform in recent years as a reason for stronger safeguards against potentially fabricated or misleading evidence.
Duterte’s lawyers are therefore asking Trial Chamber III to order the amendment before the trial starts. They argued that additional verification would help prevent unnecessary, irrelevant or unreliable material from being incorporated into the court record.
The ICC has yet to decide on the request.
Duterte is facing three counts of crimes against humanity involving murder and attempted murder over alleged acts connected to his administration’s anti-illegal drugs campaign. The charges concern alleged incidents during his tenure as Davao City mayor from 2013 to 2016 and as Philippine president from 2016 to 2018.
