https://sg.yahoo.com/news/philippines-high-alert-rodrigo-duterte-063958221.html
Wed, 12 March 2025 at 2:39 pm SGT·4-min read
Philippines on high alert as Rodrigo Duterte’s daughter says he was forcibly taken to The Hague
Rodrigo Duterte’s daughter said the former president of the Philippines was “forcibly taken” to The Hague after his surprise arrest at the Manila airport, prompting a security clampdown.
Mr Duterte was taken into custody shortly after he landed from Hong Kong as police executed an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.
The former president, 79, protested his detention before he was put on a chartered plane to The Hague, Netherlands, where the ICC was investigating him for suspected crimes against humanity during his administration’s anti-drugs campaign, which led to thousands of killings.
"Today, our own government has surrendered a Filipino citizen, a former president at that, to foreign powers,” Mr Duterte’s daughter, incumbent vice president Sara Duterte, said.
“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. As I write this, he is being forcibly taken to The Hague tonight. This is not justice. This is oppression and persecution."
She said she would follow her father to The Hague to secure his release.
Philippine policemen walk past the Supreme Court on 12 March 2025 as security is heightened in the capital Manila a day after the arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte (AFP via Getty Images)
The arrest of Mr Duterte, a polarising figure in the Philippines, escalated fears about the security situation as Manila braced for protests.
The Philippine National Police issued a high alert for regional offices and national support units in the capital amid concerns about civil unrest, rallies, and mass actions.
Police also secured the Supreme Court premises where lawyers of the former president planned to file a plea for his release from "illegal arrest”.
The presidential legal counsel denied the involvement of the Philippines government in Mr Duterte’s arrest and claimed his legal troubles were caused by laws enforceable by the ICC.
“The current legal problem of former president Rodrigo R Duterte is not caused by Philippine laws,” Juan Ponce Enrile said.
"His lawyers should endeavour 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.”
A supporter of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte reacts while facing police outside the Villamor Air Base, where he was held for a while in Metro Manila (AFP via Getty)
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr told a press conference that Mr Duterte was being flown out of the country. “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," he said.
“I am confident the arrest was proper, correct and followed all necessary legal procedures. We did not help the International Criminal Court in any way. The arrest was made in compliance with Interpol."
Mr Duterte could become the first Asian former head of state to go on trial at the ICC.
Human rights activists and Filipino families whose loved ones were killed during Mr Duterte’s war on drugs hailed his arrest.
Amnesty International claimed that the former leader’s arrest was “a hopeful sign for victims in the Philippines and beyond”.
“It shows that suspected perpetrators of the worst crimes, including government leaders, can and will face justice, wherever they are in the world.”
Police stand in formation at the gates of a military airbase where former president Rodrigo Duterte was held in Manila (EPA)
Randy Delos Santos, uncle of a teenager, Kian Delos Santos, killed by police during an anti-drug operation in August 2017, spoke at a rally on Tuesday.
"This is a big, long-awaited day for justice," he said. "Now we feel justice is rolling. We hope that top police officials and the hundreds of police officers who were involved in the illegal killings should also be placed in custody and punished.”
Three officers who killed Santos were convicted for murder in 2018. The killing had forced Mr Duterte to temporarily halt his campaign.
It’s alleged that his administration oversaw the execution of nearly 4,000 people during the anti-drug campaign. Most of those killed were poor Filipinos living in urban areas. Human rights groups say the actual number of dead could be much higher.
The war on drugs was the signature campaign platform that swept the mercurial crimebuster nicknamed "the punisher" to power.
His detention follows years of him rebuking and taunting the ICC in profanity-laden speeches since pulling the Philippines from the court's founding treaty in 2019 as it started looking into allegations of systematic murders of drug dealers on his watch.
Philippines on high alert as Rodrigo Duterte’s daughter says he was forcibly taken to The Hague
Shweta SharmaWed, 12 March 2025 at 2:39 pm SGT·4-min read
Philippines on high alert as Rodrigo Duterte’s daughter says he was forcibly taken to The Hague
Rodrigo Duterte’s daughter said the former president of the Philippines was “forcibly taken” to The Hague after his surprise arrest at the Manila airport, prompting a security clampdown.
Mr Duterte was taken into custody shortly after he landed from Hong Kong as police executed an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.
The former president, 79, protested his detention before he was put on a chartered plane to The Hague, Netherlands, where the ICC was investigating him for suspected crimes against humanity during his administration’s anti-drugs campaign, which led to thousands of killings.
"Today, our own government has surrendered a Filipino citizen, a former president at that, to foreign powers,” Mr Duterte’s daughter, incumbent vice president Sara Duterte, said.
“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. As I write this, he is being forcibly taken to The Hague tonight. This is not justice. This is oppression and persecution."
She said she would follow her father to The Hague to secure his release.
Philippine policemen walk past the Supreme Court on 12 March 2025 as security is heightened in the capital Manila a day after the arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte (AFP via Getty Images)
The arrest of Mr Duterte, a polarising figure in the Philippines, escalated fears about the security situation as Manila braced for protests.
The Philippine National Police issued a high alert for regional offices and national support units in the capital amid concerns about civil unrest, rallies, and mass actions.
Police also secured the Supreme Court premises where lawyers of the former president planned to file a plea for his release from "illegal arrest”.
The presidential legal counsel denied the involvement of the Philippines government in Mr Duterte’s arrest and claimed his legal troubles were caused by laws enforceable by the ICC.
“The current legal problem of former president Rodrigo R Duterte is not caused by Philippine laws,” Juan Ponce Enrile said.
"His lawyers should endeavour 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.”
A supporter of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte reacts while facing police outside the Villamor Air Base, where he was held for a while in Metro Manila (AFP via Getty)
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr told a press conference that Mr Duterte was being flown out of the country. “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," he said.
“I am confident the arrest was proper, correct and followed all necessary legal procedures. We did not help the International Criminal Court in any way. The arrest was made in compliance with Interpol."
Mr Duterte could become the first Asian former head of state to go on trial at the ICC.
Human rights activists and Filipino families whose loved ones were killed during Mr Duterte’s war on drugs hailed his arrest.
Amnesty International claimed that the former leader’s arrest was “a hopeful sign for victims in the Philippines and beyond”.
“It shows that suspected perpetrators of the worst crimes, including government leaders, can and will face justice, wherever they are in the world.”
Police stand in formation at the gates of a military airbase where former president Rodrigo Duterte was held in Manila (EPA)
Randy Delos Santos, uncle of a teenager, Kian Delos Santos, killed by police during an anti-drug operation in August 2017, spoke at a rally on Tuesday.
"This is a big, long-awaited day for justice," he said. "Now we feel justice is rolling. We hope that top police officials and the hundreds of police officers who were involved in the illegal killings should also be placed in custody and punished.”
Three officers who killed Santos were convicted for murder in 2018. The killing had forced Mr Duterte to temporarily halt his campaign.
It’s alleged that his administration oversaw the execution of nearly 4,000 people during the anti-drug campaign. Most of those killed were poor Filipinos living in urban areas. Human rights groups say the actual number of dead could be much higher.
The war on drugs was the signature campaign platform that swept the mercurial crimebuster nicknamed "the punisher" to power.
His detention follows years of him rebuking and taunting the ICC in profanity-laden speeches since pulling the Philippines from the court's founding treaty in 2019 as it started looking into allegations of systematic murders of drug dealers on his watch.
