Former Philippine president Duterte arrested at ICC's request over 'war on drugs' killings

MANILA - The Philippines arrested former president Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday at the request of the International Criminal Court, a major step in the world body's investigation into thousands of killings in a "war on drugs" that defined his presidency.

Duterte, the maverick former mayor who led the Philippines from 2016 to 2022, was served an arrest warrant on arrival from Hong Kong at Manila's main airport and was in custody, the office of his successor Ferdinand Marcos Jr said.

The "war on drugs" was Duterte's signature campaign platform that swept the mercurial, crime-busting former prosecutor to power and he soon delivered on promises he made during vitriolic speeches to kill thousands of drug pushers and users.

If transferred to The Hague, he could become Asia's first former head of state to go on trial at the ICC.

Duterte has long insisted he instructed police to kill only in self-defence and has defended the crackdown, repeatedly telling his supporters he was ready to "rot in jail" if it meant ridding the Philippines of drugs.

His arrest follows years of him rebuking and taunting the ICC since he unilaterally withdrew 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.

"Why will you bring me to the international body when we are no longer a member? Ponder on it seriously, because this will have implications," Duterte told police while in custody according to a livestream on Instagram by his youngest daughter, Veronica Duterte.

"If I committed a sin, prosecute me in Philippine courts, with Filipino judges and I will allow myself to be jailed in my own nation."

The ICC, a court of last resort, is probing alleged crimes against humanity and says it has jurisdiction to investigate alleged crimes that took place while a country was a member.

SLUMLAND KILLINGS

The president's office has yet to outline the next steps for Duterte and the ICC warrant has not been made public.

A copy of the warrant, seen by Reuters, said Duterte is accused of criminal responsibility for the murder of at least 43 people between 2011 and 2019, which would include time when served as mayor of southern Davao City.

Daughter Sara Duterte, the current vice president, said her father "is being forcibly taken to The Hague tonight", calling it oppression and persecution.

Human rights groups and families of victims said his detention was a key step towards accountability for the killings of thousands of people in the Philippines, where police investigations have moved at a snail's pace. Duterte has not been charged with any crimes locally.

"At least he is given the chance to defend his side, unlike the victims of his war on drugs," said Randy delos Santos, uncle of a high school student Kian delos Santos, whose killing by police captured national attention.

According to police, 6,200 suspects were killed during anti-drug operations under Duterte's presidency that they say ended in shootouts. But activists say the real toll of the crackdown was far greater, with many thousands more slumland drug users, some named on community "watch lists", killed in mysterious circumstances.

The prosecutor of the ICC has said as many as 30,000 people may have been killed by police or unidentified individuals.

Police have rejected allegations from rights groups of systematic murders, staged crime scenes and fabricated incident reports.

Israelito Torreon, a lawyer, said he had petitioned the Supreme Court on behalf of Duterte and his former police chief seeking a temporary restraining order to stop authorities cooperating with the ICC. It also asked judges to declare the ICC has no jurisdiction.

A spokesperson for the court said the petition would be immediately addressed.

The Philippines had refused to cooperate but the Marcos administration changed tack in November and started signalling it would comply if an arrest warrant was issued.

'AFFRONT' TO PHILIPPINE SOVEREIGNTY

Duterte's closest allies and family rallied behind him, warning he was in fragile health and questioning the jurisdiction of the ICC.

His former presidential spokesman and legal counsel Salvador Panelo said Duterte had been denied legal representation and called the arrest unlawful as it came "from a spurious source".

Former executive secretary, Christopher "Bong" Go, a senator, called the ICC arrest warrant "an affront to the sovereignty of the Philippines" and said local courts were independent and capable of delivering justice.

"Long gone are the days when foreigners dictated how we run our internal affairs," he said.

Leila de Lima, a former justice minister who was jailed under Duterte months after she led a Senate investigation into the drugs killings, said the victims' families had fought courageously for justice.

"Duterte is being made to answer - not to me, but to the victims, to their families, to a world that refuses to forget," she said.

- REUTERS