MANILA, Philippines – Former president Rodrigo Duterte was arrested at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA 3) on Tuesday, March 11, over a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), becoming the first former Philippine head of state to be arrested through an order by an international tribunal.

Earlier, an informed ranking source told Rappler that Duterte is already in custody, which was also confirmed to Rappler by a separate security source. Malacañang later confirmed this.

Duterte faces a crimes against humanity case before the international court over his drug war that killed close to 30,000 people, according to tallies by human rights groups. Prior to his arrest, the former president was put on Red Notice alert by the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), following the ICC’s issuance of a warrant.

A day prior, a top-level source had already informed Rappler that a warrant had already been issued and that the Philippine National Police (PNP) was already preparing for Duterte’s return to the country.

Earlier, PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group chief Police Brigadier General Nicolas Torre told DWIZ that representatives from the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime and the Interpol were present at NAIA. Prosecutor General Richard Fadullon and Justice Undersecretary Felix Ty were also spotted with Torre at the airport.

Duterte arrived Tuesday after staying in Hong Kong to attend an event with overseas Filipino workers there. The former president was in China’s special administrative region amid talk circulating that the ICC had already ordered his arrest.

In implementing the arrest, what the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the PNP did was to honor the Philippines’ legal responsibility with the Interpol. Although President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration did not directly cooperate with the ICC, it honored its commitment to the Interpol, which compelled the country to arrest Duterte.

The ICC, to arrest Duterte, coursed its request through the Interpol. When asked how the government would react to an ICC request if it goes through the Interpol, the Marcos Cabinet stuck to its rhetoric of cooperating with the Interpol of which the Philippines is a member.

Duterte’s arrest has been the highlight so far of the ICC’s over eight-year probe into alleged killings that happened under the former president and former Davao City mayor’s watch. Despite the Duterte government’s withdrawal from the court in 2019 and the Philippines’ appeal against the probe, the ICC still continued its investigation and ended up issuing a warrant.

At least four individuals with existing arrest warrants from the ICC are sitting or former leaders of their government at the time of issuance. Among them are two current leaders — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin. But unlike Duterte, both Netanyahu and Putin have yet to be arrested. – with a report from Jodesz Gavilan/Rappler.com

Jairo Bolledo

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