Hillarie Parungao (pictured) has paid tribute to her father after he became a victim of the brutal war on drugs in the Philippines

A Philippine beauty pageant winner has paid a heartbreaking tribute to her father after he became a victim of president Rodrigo Duterte's brutal war on drugs.

Hillarie Parungao, who won Miss World Philippines in 2015, said 'nothing can ever mend my heart' after her father Edmundo allegedly shot himself in a police station in Salano following a drugs-related arrest.

The grief-stricken 26-year-old took to Facebook as she paid tribute to the man she credits with helping to launch her modelling career.

Local reports claims Mr Parungao, 46, grabbed a gun from an officer and killed himself after being uncuffed in a police station having complained of chest pains.

But the death mirrors other cases in which those suspected of drug offences have ended up dead having allegedly tried to fight arrest or grapple with officers while in custody.

Duterte has launched a savage war on drugs which has left more than 8,000 dead since he came to power in 2016.

Miss Parungao, who is also a television presenter, wrote on Facebook: 'I'm broken, I will always be, and no one or nothing can ever mend my heart.'

In her tribute, she said that she had once found her father 'tearing up' in the garden - an early memory that 'broke my heart, terribly'.

She added: 'My first memory of my dad - a man in his denim jeans and white t-shirt. Bubbly, full of life and love, hurting and sobbing.

'I kept that first memory vividly, because at that very moment I told myself that I will never want to see my father cry again, I never want him to ever be hurt.'

It comes as a Philippine lawyer on Monday filed a complaint at the world's only permanent war crimes court against Duterte, alleging his war on drugs has caused some 8,000 deaths.

Lawyer Jude Sabio urged the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague to investigate Duterte and senior adminstration officials and bring charges of crimes against humanity against them for 'the terrifying and gruesome situation of continuing mass murder in the Philippines'.

Hillarie Parungao (left), who won Miss World Philippines in 2015, said 'nothing can ever mend my heart' after her father Edmundo (right) allegedly shot himself in a police station in Salano following a drugs-related arrest

Sabio, who is the lawyer for Duterte's confessed hitman Edgar Matobato, alleged the president 'began his strategy or system of eliminating or killing persons suspected of crimes, including drug addicts and pushers' when he became mayor of Davao City in 1988.

'The "repeated, unchanging and continuous" mass murder being conducted by the President Duterte has already resulted into the deaths of not less than 1,400 individuals in Davao City under his Davao Death Squad and not less than 7,000 individuals in his war on drugs at the national level,' the filing said.

Sabio travelled to The Hague to hand over his 77-page complaint in person to the office of ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.

Bensouda's office confirmed to AFP it had 'received a communication earlier this morning by an attorney from the Philippines,' adding it would 'analyse the materials submitted, as appropriate' in line with the tribunal's guiding Rome Statute and make its decision later.

In October Bensouda said she was 'deeply concerned about these alleged killings and the fact that public statements from high officials of the... Philippines seem to condone such killings'.

She warned that 'any person in the Philippines who incites or engages in acts of mass violence including by ordering, requesting, encouraging ... the commission of crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC is potentially liable for prosecution before the court.'

Rodrigo Duterte has launched a savage war on drugs which has left more than 8,000 dead since he came to power in 2016

Duterte won election by a landslide last May largely on his promise to launch a war on illegal drugs.

Although the campaign has proved popular at home, the president has faced international criticism for the thousands of alleged extrajudicial killings.

The Philippine government denies the allegations, and presidential spokesman Ernie Abella said Monday that police were already probing those suspected 'of violating procedures.'

He also pointed to an investigation by the country's Senate, in which Matobato was a star witness, and said the ICC 'as a court of last resort, will only exercise jurisdiction over a case once legal remedies in the Philippines have been exhausted.'

'The so-called 'extrajudicial killings', are not state-sanctioned or state-sponsored. Police authorities are conducting legitimate operations that require observance of operational protocols,' Abella added.

According to the latest national police figures, police have shot dead 2,087 drug suspects, while unknown killers have murdered 1,398 others in cases described by investigators as 'drugs-related'.

Earlier official figures had put the death toll much higher, including some 4,200 killed in unexplained circumstances.

Since beginning work in 2002, the ICC says the prosecutor's office has received some 10,000 requests from individuals, groups or countries around the world to investigate alleged crimes.

It is then up to the prosecutor to decide if there is enough cause to open a preliminary inquiry into whether a full-blown investigation is merited. There are currently 10 preliminary examinations, and 10 full investigations under way.

A total of 23 cases have been recognised, securing nine convictions and one acquittal. Five trials are ongoing.