From Noise to Record: The ICC Confirmation of Charges Hearing at 5 PM

The ICC confirmation of charges hearing starts at 5:00 PM Manila time. Here’s what that stage actually means.

At 5:00 PM Manila time today (10:00 AM in The Hague), the International Criminal Court (ICC) opens the  confirmation of charges hearing in the Duterte case.

Watch ICC coverage live:

or watch GMA News coverage with Atty. Raul Pangalangan

A lot of people will treat this like a courtroom episode—watchable, dramatic, and instantly decisive. It isn’t. This stage is less about speeches and more about whether the case moves forward to trial.

What “confirmation of charges” is (and isn’t)

This is not the trial. No one is being convicted tonight.

The confirmation of charges hearing is where ICC judges decide whether the Prosecutor has shown substantial grounds to believe the person committed the crimes charged—enough to send the case to a full trial.

If the charges are confirmed, the case proceeds. If they aren’t, the Prosecutor may be asked to tighten the case or, in some situations, come back with stronger evidence.

Why this hearing matters more than people think

This is the moment when a public narrative is forced to become a court record.

It’s where:

• allegations get attached to dates, places, and chains of command
• the defense has to respond to the actual case, not just the loudest talking points
• judges signal what they consider strong, weak, or missing

You’ll learn a lot from what the judges ask, interrupt, or keep returning to—often more than from what the lawyers want to emphasize.

Duterte won’t attend, and that’s part of the story

News reports say the ICC granted a request allowing Duterte to waive his right to attend the hearings.

Whatever you think of the legal strategy, it shapes public perception. Courts can proceed. The question is whether a former head of state treats the process as something to face—or something to talk around.

What the court is looking at

Multiple reports describe the case as linked to killings connected to the anti-drug campaign, with sharply different death toll estimates depending on whether you count only official anti-drug operations or include vigilante-style killings.

The Prosecutor’s job at this stage is to show there’s a coherent theory of the crimes and responsibility. The defense’s job is to show why the case should not clear that threshold—by attacking jurisdiction, evidence, credibility, or legal framing.

The panel of judges consists of:

Presiding Judge Iulia Antoanella Motoc
Judge Reine Adélaïde Sophie Alapini-Gansou
Judge María del Socorro Flores Liera
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These judges will assess if there’s sufficient evidence to proceed to trial, with hearings scheduled over four days in Courtroom I.

What to watch tonight (if you’re following seriously)

If you’re watching the livestream or updates, here are the tells that matter:

1) What the judges focus on
Judges will telegraph what they need clarified. If they keep pressing on the same point (timeline, policy, command responsibility, linkage to specific incidents), that’s the spine of what they’re evaluating.

2) Whether arguments stay inside the record
“Politics,” “sovereignty,” and public outrage may dominate social media—but the ICC process turns on documents, patterns, witness accounts, and legal tests. If a lawyer can’t bring it back to evidence, it’s usually for the audience, not the bench.

3) The framing of responsibility
This isn’t just about whether killings happened. It’s about how they happened and who bears responsibility under the crimes charged. That’s where “policy,” “pattern,” and chain-of-command issues come in.

4) What gets narrowed
One underrated outcome of confirmation hearings is narrowing—what’s in, what’s out, and what the Prosecutor will be allowed to take to trial.

Read more: The Impunity Machine: What the ICC charges say and what the Senate evasion reveals

Timeline: what happens after

After the hearing days conclude, judges typically decide whether to confirm charges within a set period; reporting notes a decision may come within about 60 days after the hearing phase.

That’s why tonight is not “the end.” It’s the point where the case either solidifies into a trial track—or gets forced back into refinement.

A simple way to frame it

If you only remember one thing:

Confirmation of charges is where spin meets standards.

And standards are hard to talk your way out of.