Updated at 14:55 ET on March 11, 2025
MANILA -- Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was en route to the Netherlands on Tuesday to face trial before the International Criminal Court for his bloody “war on drugs” that left thousands of Filipinos dead, in a stunning development cheered by human rights advocates.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. told the nation that the flight carrying Duterte had left Philippine airspace, about 14 hours after the former president arrived in Manila from Hong Kong where he spoke to a stadium of Filipino workers on Sunday.
“The plane is en route to The Hague in the Netherlands, allowing the former president to face charges of crimes against humanity in relation to his bloody war on drugs,” Marcos said.
“Interpol asked for help and we obliged because we have commitments to Interpol, which we have to fulfill,” Marcos said.
“We did not do this because it was derived from, or came from ICC. We did this because Interpol asked us to do it.”
Duterte, 79, was served the warrant at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila early Tuesday and went voluntarily with the police, accompanied by his aides, to the nearby Villamor Air Base.
A government doctor who examined the former president, who was seen walking with a cane, said he was in good health.
Earlier, the Philippine Supreme Court said it had received a motion from Duterte’s lawyers seeking to stop his transfer to ICC jurisdiction and challenging the Philippines’ “cooperation” with the world criminal court.
“Petitioners seek a temporary restraining order to prevent respondents from facilitating, assisting or cooperating with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in any investigation related to the Philippine government’s anti-drug campaign,” the tribunal said in a statement.
“They also ask the SC to enjoin respondents from enforcing or assisting in the enforcement of any ICC issued warrants or red notices and to suspend all forms of cooperation with the ICC while the case is pending.”
Responding to a BenarNews request for comment, an ICC spokesperson wrote in an email: “The ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I has issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Rodrigo Roa Duterte for charges of the crime of murder as a crime against humanity allegedly committed in the Philippines between 1 November 2011 and 16 March 2019.
“Once a suspect is in ICC custody, an initial appearance hearing will be scheduled. Further information will be communicated in due course.”
Vice President Sara Duterte, the daughter of the ex-president, issued a statement condemning her father’s arrest. Supporters of Rodrigo Duterte also gathered outside Villamor Air Base to protest his arrest.
“Today, our own government has surrendered a Filipino citizen – even a former president at that – to foreign powers. This is a blatant affront to our sovereignty and an insult to every Filipino who believes in our nation’s independence,” the vice president said.
“Worse, former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is being denied his fundamental rights. Since he was taken this morning, he has not been brought before any competent judicial authority to assert his rights and to allow him to avail of reliefs provided by law,” she added.
On Sunday, the Marcos administration indicated that it would cooperate with Interpol in carrying out an ICC arrest warrant for Rodrigo Duterte.
Marcos had teamed up with Sara Duterte as his running mate in the 2022 general election, but a very public feud between the Philippines’ top two leaders later broke out and shattered that alliance between their politically powerful families.
ICC probe
The ICC arrest order stemmed from a years-long investigation by its Office of the Prosecutor into an anti-drug campaign that Duterte presided over during his time as the Philippine leader (2016-22) and, before that, when he served as mayor of the southern city of Davao.
During appearances before the Senate and the House of Representatives last October and November, Duterte defended his administration’s war on drugs, saying it was meant to protect the youth.
Duterte has never denied his heavy-handed approach to crime, and has insisted that it was necessary to rid the Southeast Asian country of crime. At the House hearing, he dared the ICC to once and for all subject him to an investigation.
“I am asking the ICC to hurry up and if possible, if they can come here and start the investigation tomorrow,” Duterte had said. “This issue has been left hanging for so many years. I might die even before they investigate me. That’s why I am asking the ICC, through you, to come here.”
On Tuesday, the former president tried to reason with arresting officers, asking them “What is the law and what is the crime that I committed?”
“I was apparently brought here not of my own volition, and somebody else’s. You have to answer now for that deprivation of liberty,” he said, according to a clip by GMA News television that showed him sitting down at the airport lounge and talking to the arresting officers.
Marcos had earlier blocked the ICC in the Philippines, but subsequently changed his mind after Duterte’s statement. Marcos insisted that the country’s justice system was working perfectly well.
Duterte’s lawyer, Salvador Panelo, charged that the police did not allow him to meet with his client.
“It’s [an] unlawful arrest,” he said. “He was deprived of legal representation at the time of his arrest.”
He reiterated that because the Duterte government had withdrawn ratification of the statute of the created the ICC, the Philippines was no longer covered under its jurisdiction.
But former Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, whom Duterte’s government put in jail on false drug-related charges, said the arrest for the former president had finally arrived.
“The arrest of Rodrigo Duterte is the beginning of a much-need reckoning,” de Lima told BenarNews minutes after Duterte was arrested. “This arrest should not only signal the end of impunity but ignite a larger movement for justice, transparency and the restoration of human rights.”
De Lima, who survived a hostage-taking incident while in detention, stressed that the arrest “really had to happen.”
“The victims, the families of the thousands killed under Mr. Duterte’s war on drugs have been crying out for justice and they really looked at the ICC as their best hope because they feel, rightly so, that they could not really get a speedy justice from the local or domestic authorities,” she said.
De Lima said the ICC had been quietly doing its job, and that Duterte’s arrest was expected by the rights community.
“That is one of the most significant developments in current times,” she said.
The arrest, de Lima said, would “have a lot of impact on the political climate in this country,” noting that Marcos’ hands were tied by the political alliance he had made with the Duterte family at first.
“But when the unity broke up, we could see the gradual softening of this administration’s position,” she said. “So politically, this is an ace on the part of Mr. Marcos (because) the issuance of the warrant of arrest was the best way of getting rid of Mr. Duterte (since) there have been reports of destabilization efforts attributed to forces within the (police) and the military still loyal to the former president.”
Bryony Lau, deputy director for Human Rights Watch in Asia, said Duterte’s arrest was a “critical step” towards accountability in the Southeast Asian nation.
“His arrest could bring victims and their families closer to justice and send the clear message that no one is above the law,” Lau said in a statement. “The Marcos government should swiftly surrender him to the ICC.”
At least 6,200 suspected drug dealers and addicts were killed during the Duterte administration’s anti-narcotics campaign, according to the government’s latest figures. However, human rights groups have put the number as high as 20,000-plus.
‘The evil done to us’
Grace Garganta, whose father and 27-year-old brother were killed in the early days of Duterte’s drug war, was among those Filipinos who hailed the ex-president’s arrest.
“This made me cry,” she told BenarNews in between sobs. “He should face justice and pay for the many deaths he had ordered.”
Garganta’s father was killed in what police described as a shootout, and her brother was later taken while protesting against a police raid in their slum neighborhood.
A day later, her brother’s body was recovered. It bore signs of torture, and his face was wrapped with packaging tape.
“I want to tell the world about the evil done to us. I want to testify. I want to let them know who was responsible for all this death,” Garganta said.
Bryony Lau, deputy director for the Human Rights Watch in Asia, said the arrest was a “critical step” towards accountability in the Southeast Asian nation.
“His arrest could bring victims and their families closer to justice and send the clear message that no one is above the law,” Lau said in a statement. “The Marcos government should swiftly surrender him to the ICC.”
Mark Navales and Jeoffrey Maitem contributed reporting from Davao City, and Gerard Carreon from Manila.
BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.