Philippine authorities arrested former President Rodrigo Duterte following the issuance of a warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which accused him of crimes against humanity connected to his deadly “war on drugs.”
Authorities detained the 79-year-old immediately after he landed at Manila airport, returning from Hong Kong.
Duterte has consistently defended his harsh crackdown on drugs, which resulted in the deaths of thousands during his time as president of the Southeast Asian country from 2016 to 2022, and previously as mayor of Davao City.
During his arrest, he challenged the legitimacy of the warrant, questioning, “What crime have I committed?”
Salvador Panelo, Duterte’s former presidential spokesperson, condemned the arrest as “unlawful,” pointing out that the Philippines had ceased its membership in the ICC in 2019.
Earlier, the ICC clarified its authority to oversee cases involving alleged crimes that occurred before the Philippines’ withdrawal.
Activists have described the arrest as a “historic moment” for the victims of Duterte’s drug war and their families, according to the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP).
ICHRP chairman Peter Murphy stated, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but today, it has bent towards justice. Duterte’s arrest marks the beginning of accountability for the mass killings that defined his brutal rule.”
Duterte was in Hong Kong to support his campaign for the upcoming May 12 midterm elections, where he planned to run for mayor of Davao once again.
Local television footage captured him walking through the airport using a cane. Officials have reported that he is in “good health” and under the care of government doctors.
Before his departure from Hong Kong, he addressed a gathering of Filipino expatriates, stating, “What is my sin? I did everything in my time to ensure peace and a peaceful life for the Filipino people.”
A video shared by his daughter, Veronica Duterte, shows him in custody at Manila’s Villamor Air Base, where he can be heard disputing the reasons for his arrest.
In the video, Duterte expressed, “What is the law and what is the crime that I committed? I was brought here not of my own volition; it was somebody else’s doing. You now have to answer for this deprivation of liberty.”
Filipino political scientist Richard Heydarian remarked that Duterte’s arrest “signifies the beginning of a new chapter in Philippine history. This is about the rule of law and human rights.”
He further explained that the swift arrest at the airport was to prevent potential political unrest and delay tactics by Duterte’s supporters, which might weaken the impact of the arrest warrant.
Heydarian noted that the quest for justice in Duterte’s drug war aligns politically with the interests of his successor, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The Duterte and Marcos families, despite forming a powerful alliance in the last elections in 2022, saw their relationship publicly falter as they pursued different political paths.
Initially, Marcos resisted cooperating with the ICC’s investigation. However, as his relationship with the Duterte family waned, he indicated a shift in stance, suggesting that the Philippines might cooperate.
It remains uncertain whether Marcos will agree to extradite Duterte for trial in The Hague.
Regarding the ‘war on drugs,’ Duterte maintained his reputation as a tough anti-establishment politician, using Davao’s status as one of the country’s safest cities from street crimes to bolster his campaign.
His call to action led security forces to fatally shoot over 6,000 suspected drug offenders, although rights groups argue the actual number may be higher.
A UN report indicated that the majority of the victims were young, impoverished men, and police operations often forced suspects into self-incrimination under the threat of violence.
Critics argue that Duterte’s campaign predominantly targeted low-level dealers and overlooked major drug figures, with numerous families claiming their loved ones were merely in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Parliamentary investigations have hinted at a covert “death squad” targeting drug suspects, an allegation Duterte denies.
The ICC began scrutinizing the supposed abuses in 2016 and launched a formal investigation in 2021, covering incidents from when Duterte was mayor of Davao in November 2011 until just before the Philippines exited the ICC in March 2019.
Under Marcos’s presidency, the anti-drug initiative has seen a reduction in violence, yet numerous drug-related deaths continue to be reported.
