Manila, Philippines – Almost three years after leaving the presidency, former President Rodrigo Duterte has been arrested by Philippine authorities in Manila, upon the request of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague, which is investigating allegations of “crimes against humanity” committed during his six years in power.
Duterte was immediately taken into police custody on Tuesday at the Manila international airport following his arrival from Hong Kong, in a move hailed by human rights groups as “a critical step for accountability in the Philippines”.
His trip to Hong Kong over the weekend had whipped up speculation that he would evade arrest.
The arrest on Tuesday marks the first time that a leader in the Philippines will be facing a case before an international tribunal. The arrest is especially rare since the Philippines is not a member of the ICC any more — Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the international court in 2019 — and so is not obligated under international law to detain someone who has a warrant against their name.
The decision by the government of current President Ferdinand Marcos Jr also represents an about-turn since Marcos Jr has previously rejected the ICC’s jurisdiction over the Philippines.
So what is Duterte accused of, what prompted the Marcos government to arrest him, how has Duterte responded, and what’s next for the ex-president?
What’s the charge against Duterte – and what prompted the ICC investigation?
The ICC has yet to issue an official statement on the specific charge against Duterte.
The Hague-based court has been investigating allegations of “crimes against humanity” committed by Duterte since 2018, when he was still in power. It briefly suspended its work in 2021 upon the request of the Philippine government but resumed its investigation in 2023.
Duterte ran for president in 2016 on a single issue of fighting crime in the Philippines.
During his campaign and later on as president, he repeatedly urged police to “kill” drug suspects, or encourage suspects to fight back in order to justify the deadly shootings.
After taking office on June 30, 2016, he immediately launched his deadly campaign described by the country’s Catholic leaders as a “reign of terror”. Over his six years in office, more than 7,000 people were killed in official anti-drug operations, according to police records.
But human rights advocates said the death toll numbered more than 30,000, including those killed by unknown suspects, some of whom later turned out to be police officers.
Not all cases were covered in the complaint filed before the ICC. But human rights advocates and lawyers of the victims’ families managed to compile evidence from a few hundred cases that were submitted to The Hague court.
Duterte has repeatedly defended his actions as president. As recently as last October during a Senate hearing, he said that he offers “no apologies, no excuses” for carrying out the drug war.
During the same hearing, he also admitted under oath that he maintained a “death squad” of gangsters to kill other criminals while he was the mayor of the southern Philippines’ Davao City. Some of those cases were also included in the ICC complaint.
Has the Marcos Jr government changed its views on the ICC?
Until Duterte’s arrest on Tuesday, Marcos Jr had repeatedly rejected the ICC’s jurisdiction over the Philippines and on the Duterte case, famously saying that he considers the international body “a threat” to the country’s sovereignty.
In July 2023, just a year into his presidency, he categorically declared that the Philippines “will not cooperate” with the ICC “in any way, shape, or form”, after the ICC announced the resumption of its investigation of Duterte.
Then, in early 2024, he was quoted as saying, “Let me say this for the 100th time. I do not recognise the jurisdiction of ICC in the Philippines. The Philippine government will not lift a finger to help any investigation that the ICC conducts.”
Marcos Jr would reiterate the same line during his visit to Germany in March 2024 and at a meeting with foreign correspondents in Manila in April of the same year.
Yet, the political equation that undergirded that position on the ICC has changed.
When Marcos Jr sought the presidency in 2022, he ran on a ticket with Duterte’s daughter, Sara Duterte, winning a landslide victory on a promise of continuing the elder Duterte’s policy.
But their alliance began to crumble when supporters of the Duterte family called for Marcos Jr’s ouster, following the arrest of Apollo Quiboloy, an influential pastor and spiritual adviser of former President Duterte.
Their political union finally broke up, after Vice President Sara Duterte was investigated for alleged misuse of millions of dollars in government funds, and was impeached by Marcos Jr’s allies in Congress in late 2024.
Since then, the two camps have been engaged in an all-out political combat ahead of midterm elections in May.
On Tuesday morning, Marcos Jr’s office said it had received an official copy of the warrant of arrest “for the crimes against humanity” from the ICC a few hours earlier.
“He’s now in the custody of authorities,” the government statement said, noting that Duterte is “in good health”.
In a statement posted on Facebook, President Marcos’s chief legal counsel, Juan Ponce Enrile, said the Philippine laws “have nothing to do” with Duterte’s current legal problem.
“His legal problem is caused by laws enforceable by the ICC. His lawyers should endeavor to secure a copy of the ICC charges against him so that they will know why he was ordered to be arrested by the ICC,” he said.
How has Duterte responded to his arrest?
“You will just have to kill me if I will not comply,” Duterte was caught saying in a video clip, talking to police officials who arrested him as soon his plane landed in the Philippine capital on Tuesday.
In another video posted on Instagram by Duterte’s youngest daughter, Veronica Duterte, the former leader was seen asking authorities, “What is the law and what is the crime that I committed?”
“Explain to me now the legal basis for my being here, as apparently I was brought here not of my own volition. It’s somebody else’s,” he added.
In a statement, Salvador Panelo, Duterte’s former legal adviser, described the arrest as “unlawful”, saying that the former president was “deprived of legal representation at the time of his arrest”.
Senator Ronald dela Rosa, an ally of Duterte and his former top police enforcer, has also questioned the arrest, filing an emergency case before the Supreme Court.
What’s next for Duterte?
In a statement sent to Al Jazeera, the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) said Duterte’s detention “marks an unprecedented step towards justice” for thousands of victims of the drug war.
“Duterte’s arrest is the beginning of accountability for the mass killings that defined his brutal rule,” ICHRP chairperson Peter Murphy said.
Rise Up, a group of women whose family members or children were among those killed in the drug war, also welcomed the arrest and promised to “stay vigilant and see through” the prosecution of Duterte.
“We call for and support the expeditious surrender and transfer of custody of Duterte to the ICC,” the group said.
It is still unclear when Duterte will be turned over to The Hague.
While visiting Hong Kong on Saturday, Duterte had commented about the impending arrest, saying, “If it’s really my fate in life, that’s okay, I will accept it. There’s nothing I can do about it.”
In an interview with Al Jazeera before the arrest was announced, lawyer Maria Kristina Conti, who represents some of the families of the victims, said it was crucial for Filipinos to witness the resolution and prosecution of the case “so that it will not happen again”.
“If you do not put it on record, this could be subject to historical revisionism in the future,” she warned.
“In the general context of justice, we also need to break the belief that only the rich and powerful can attain fairness, and establish that justice is also for the poor and the marginalised.”
