Former Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte arrested in drug war case

By Cliff Venzon and Neil Jerome Morales

 

The Philippines said former President Rodrigo Duterte is under police custody after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant following an investigation into his deadly drug war.

 

Duterte was arrested by police at the Manila airport shortly after his arrival on Tuesday from Hong Kong, where he addressed supporters only days earlier. Interpol Manila received a copy of the arrest warrant from the ICC, according to a statement from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s communications office. 

 

“Upon his arrival, the Prosecutor General served the ICC notification for an arrest warrant for the former president for crimes against humanity,” the statement said. Duterte is in good health and was examined by government doctors, it said.

 

 

Duterte’s anti-narcotics campaign during his 2016-2022 presidency killed more than 6,000 people, according to government data. Human rights groups estimate the death toll to have been higher, mostly among the poor. He is the father of incumbent Vice President Sara Duterte.

 

The 79-year-old former president’s legal team is considering asking for hospital detention, ABS-CBN News reported, citing former Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello, who will be the former president’s legal counsel. Duterte is scheduled for a medical check-up tomorrow, Bello was quoted as saying.

 

Philippine stocks fell, with the key index losing 3 per cent, the most among Asian equity gauges, though analysts linked it to the global selloff. The peso was up 0.1 per cent against the dollar.

 

The Philippines under Marcos initially cut contact with the ICC after it denied the government’s request to suspend the probe into Duterte. Relations have since soured between the Marcos and Duterte camps with key midterm elections set to be held in May, and officials had signaled there are avenues to cooperate. 

 

Sara Duterte was impeached by Marcos’ allies in the House of Representatives last month on charges she plotted to kill Marcos and misused public funds — accusations she denies. A Senate trial, which would determine if she will be removed from office, is scheduled to begin in July. 

 

Her father had planned to run for mayor of Davao City on the southern island of Mindanao in the midterm election, seeking to reclaim a post that gave him national prominence for endorsing a shoot-to-kill style crackdown on crime.

 

Rodrigo Duterte said this week he’s ready to go to jail if the ICC orders his arrest. He has also defended his legacy-defining drug war, telling supporters at a stadium in Hong Kong that he did it for them and their children. 

 

“If that’s my fate, that’s fine I will accept it. We can’t do anything if I’m arrested or imprisoned,” he said before a crowd of Filipino supporters on Sunday at a stadium in Hong Kong, according to a video posted on Facebook by broadcaster Bombo Radyo.