Philippine police have arrested former president Rodrigo Duterte today as part of the current investigation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on his violent anti-drug campaign.
In a statement, the presidential palace said that the 79 -year -old was arrested this morning at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila after his return from Hong Kong.
“Early in the morning, Interpol Manille received the official copy of the mandate of the ICC arrest,” the palace said in its press release. “For the moment, he is under the care of the authorities.”
Duterte flew to Hong Kong on March 6 and spent the previous few days campaigning among the large populations of Filipino workers abroad for the city for its senatorial slate before the mid-term elections in May.
The arrest followed generalized speculation according to which the ICC was preparing to issue an arrest warrant against Duterte and that the National Police Police had set up a plan to put the former president in detention. In a report on March 8, Rappling cited “informed sources” as indicating that the mandate had been issued by the ICC that morning and that it seemed to be a “consolidation of witnesses” in The Hague.
Duterte himself approached the rumors of an arrest warrant during a campaign rally for the Filipino expatriates in Hong Kong on Saturday, during which he said that he had not regretted for his ruthless anti-narcotic campaign. “If it’s really my fate in life, it’s ok, I will accept it. They can stop me, take me, “said Duterte at the rally. “What is my sin?” I did everything in my time for peace and a peaceful life for the Philippin people. »»
Duterte’s anti-drug campaign, which started when he was sworn in in mid-2016, was modeled on the difficult approach he used during his years as mayor of Davao City on the southern island of Mindanao. Estimates in the number killed during the anti-narcotic campaign range from 12,000 to 30,000. Most were young men in congestioned urban areas that were slaughtered during “meetings” with the police, but the victims also included children and other innocent people who were taken in cross-fires.
The campaign quickly attracted the attention of the CPI prosecutors. In 2019, they announced the initiation of a preliminary investigation into drug war murders, which has encouraged to officially withdraw the Philippines from the Court. In September 2021, the CPI judges authorized an investigation into the anti-drug campaign, describing it as a “widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population”. This survey covered murders that took place between July 1, 2016, when Duterte came to the office and March 16, 2019, when Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the ICC. It also covers the extrajudicial murders who would have been committed during Duterte’s time as mayor of Davao City between November 2011 and June 2016.
Initially after taking office, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said he had “no intention” to join the ICC, he clearly said that he would not cooperate in the current investigation. In September 2022, the Marcos administration officially asked the ICC to end its investigation into the drug war, saying that it had “no competence on the situation in the Philippines”.
However, the political equation has changed considerably in the past 18 months due to the bitter quarrel between the Duterte and Marcos camps, whose “Uniteam” ticket won a landslide victory during the 2022 presidential election. Meanwhile, Duterte’s daughter, vice-president Sara Duterte, has become distant from her racing ancientness. In mid-2014, Duterte resigned from Marcos and has since been surveyed by the House of Representatives of its abusive use of millions of dollars in public funds. Last month, she was dismissed by the Chamber for this and a host of other alleged transgressions, including corruption and a threat supposed to kill the president.
As the relationship between the two clans and their supporters deteriorated, the Marcos camp began to use the “war against drugs” as a means of putting political pressure on Duterte. Last year, Marcos’ allies in the House of Representatives set up a special committee in extrajudicial killings committed during the drug war.
In his testimony to the Committee, Duterte posted the same carelessness and the same lack of regret that he has shown since he promised “blood” on the presidential campaign track in 2016. In an explosion of challenge during an audience in November, Duterte urged the ICC to start its investigation. “I ask the ICC to hurry, and if possible, they can come here and start the investigation tomorrow,” he said at the hearing, according to Rappling. “This problem has been suspended for many years.”
Shortly after, Marcos’ office published a statement indicating that even if he would not cooperate with the ICC, he would feel obliged to stop Duterte if he received a “red opinion” from Interpol, asking for his arrest in the name of the ICC.
“The government will feel obliged to consider the Red opinion as a request to be honored, in which the national law enforcement organizations will be required to grant total cooperation,” said President’s executive, Lucas Bersamin, in the press release.
The probable impact of Duterte’s arrest will be to exacerbate the conflict between Marcos and Duterte camps. The responses to the arrest have been predictable polarized.
Former Senator Leila de Lima, who spent nearly seven years in prison for drug accusations that were conferred by the Duterte administration, said that the former chief “was made to respond – not to me, but to the victims, to their families, to a world that refuses to forget. It is not a question of revenge. It is a question of finally following justice. »»
Conversely, Salvador Painlo, who was presidential legal advisor under Duterte, condemned the arrest in a press release, claiming that it had issued a “parasitic source” which “has no competence in the Philippines” – more or less the same position once professor by the Marcos administration. He added: “Government action will make the team that stops as well as the officials commanded by the criminal arrest.”
Duterte’s supporters organized a series of large rallies as political quarrel has deepened, and it would be unlikely to ignore the possibility of political disorders. The Philippine Armed Forces announced today that it was ready to “strengthen efforts to maintain national security and stability if necessary”.
For this reason, the Marcos administration has every interest in ensuring the extradition of Duterte to La Haye before his supporters can mobilize and try to challenge the arrest before the courts. Like the Philippine Political Observer Manolo Quezon III noted it today: “The authorities would do the best if [Duterte] were on a plane for The Hague by this evening or early tomorrow, the best case for [Duterte’s] The network is for the process to be dragged by giving them time to come together and offer a plan.“”
In both cases, the drama surrounding the arrest of Duterte and the imminent trial of her daughter in the Senate now seem ready to monopolize the agenda before the mid -term elections of May 12, with unpredictable – and possibly destabilizing consequences.