Philippines ex-leader Duterte arrested on ICC warrant over drug killings
Southeast Asia Correspondent
Getty ImagesPhilippine police arrested former President Rodrigo Duterte after the International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant, accusing him of human crimes, with a deadly “war on drugs.”
Shortly after Duterte arrived from Hong Kong, Duterte was arrested by police at Manila Airport.
Duterte’s brutal anti-drug crackdowns occurred when he served as president of Southeast Asian countries from 2016 to 2022, with thousands of people killed.
The 79-year-old said earlier that he was preparing to go to jail in response to reports of his possible arrest.
The Philippine International Human Rights Alliance called the arrest a “historic moment.”
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but today, it tends to be justice. Duterte’s arrest is the beginning of the mass killing that responsibility defines his cruel domination.”
But Duterte’s former presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo slammed the arrest, saying it was “illegal” as the Philippines withdrew the Philippines from the International Criminal Court.
The International Criminal Court earlier stated that it has jurisdiction in the Philippines for alleged crimes of withdrawing members in the country.
Duterte runs for his senator in Hong Kong in the upcoming May 12 midterm elections.
Videos aired on local TV show him walking out of the airport with a crutch. Authorities say he is in a “physical health” state and is cared for by government doctors.
“Drug War”
Duterte, the former mayor of one of the country’s largest cities, swept the promise of widespread crackdown on crime.
With fierce remarks, he gathered for security forces to shoot the drug suspect dead. More than 6,000 suspects were shot dead by police or unknown assailants during the campaign, but rights groups say the number may be even bigger.
He said: “Hitler slaughtered three million Jews. There are now 3 million drug users (in the Philippines). I’m happy to slaughter them.”
But critics say his “drug war” has led to police abuse and many drug suspects have been publicly executed.
Parliamentary investigations show that the dark “death squad” of bounty hunters targeting drug suspects.
Duterte denied the allegations.
The International Criminal Court first noted the alleged abuse in 2016 and began an investigation in 2021. Duterte was the mayor of Davao since November 2011, and by March 2019, the Philippines withdrew from the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Duterte cultivated the image of a difficult and anti-establishment man, but his heart was in the Filipino, who was elected as the country’s first president from the southern island of Mindanao.
His daughter, Sara Duterte, is the current vice president of the Philippines and is regarded as a potential presidential candidate in 2028.
In recent months, the Duterte family’s alliance with current President Ferdinand Marcos has unveiled spectacular attitudes in public view, following the landslide and Sara Duterte winning the 2022 election.
Marcos initially refused to work with the ICC investigation, but changed his stance as his relationship with the Duterte family deteriorated and later said the Philippines would cooperate.
It is not clear whether Marcos will extradite the former president for trial in The Hague.
Other reports by Virma Simonette in Manila
