Manila (AFP) – Former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte was arrested Tuesday in Manila by police acting on an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant tied to his deadly war on drugs.
The 79-year-old faces a charge of “the crime against humanity of murder”, according to the ICC, for a crackdown that rights groups estimate killed tens of thousands of mostly poor men, often without proof they were linked to drugs.
“Early in the morning, Interpol Manila received the official copy of the warrant of the arrest from the ICC,” the presidential palace said in a statement.
“As of now, he is under the custody of authorities.”
The statement added that “the former president and his group are in good health and are being checked by government doctors”.
Duterte’s former chief legal counsel, Salvador Panelo, called the arrest “unlawful”.
“The (Philippine National Police) didn’t allow one of his lawyers to meet him at the airport and to question the legal basis for PRRD’s arrest,” he said, adding a hard copy of the ICC warrant had not been provided.
But a group that worked to support mothers of those killed in Duterte’s drugs crackdown called the arrest a “very welcome development”.
“The mothers whose husbands and children were killed because of the drug war are very happy because they have been waiting for this for a very long time,” Rubilyn Litao, coordinator for Rise Up for Life and for Rights, told AFP.
Human Rights Watch, meanwhile, called on the government of President Ferdinand Marcos to “swiftly surrender (Duterte) to the ICC”, saying the arrest was a “critical step for accountability in the Philippines”.
Oh look, picking on the little guy works. Justice is served!
Now go play with the big boys and arrest Putin, Netanyahu and … Oh wait, justice doesn’t work there! Only against the weak or the powerless.
Do you think the Philippine police should go to Russia and Israel to arrest Putin and Netantahu?
I don’t understand what your complaint here is. It’s up to the individual countries to enforce ICC arrest warrants. The Philippines chose to enforce it. That’s a good thing. If your complaint is that other countries don’t enforce it, then you should take that up with those countries, instead of crapping all over the Philippines for doing what those other countries don’t have the courage to do.
Lol. You clearly know nothing about Philippine politics if you think this means nothing to us. You Westerners probably think of us as little people too yeah? You really only care about yourselves. Do human rights only matter if its your people?
Please book a flight to the Philippines and tell the grieving families that Duterte is nothing but a “little guy” and his crimes never mattered.
And if you think this is all just in the past, I bet you aren’t even aware that his daughter is literally the vice president right now who’s looking to run for president in 2028. Hmmm…
We’re all little people. We all could do something about it, yet we don’t. ICC? UN? Why the fuck do you need it to do your justice for you?
Fuck off with your bullshit. All of these are our own countries and yet we do nothing and need the UN to act? The blame is none but our own.
“Weak and powerless” Lol, that man is still influential in the Phillippines. And by no means poor. But okay, you can have a little extrajudicial killings of addicted people as a treat.
That’s compared to you and me. But he was arrested, so all of that wealth and influence were worthless to him.
And extrajudicial or intrajudicial, killing is killing. I’d just wish the bodies in charge wouldn’t be so picky about those they target for punishment.
That ratfucker casually dropped this: "Hitler massacred 3 million Jews. Now, there are 3 million drug addicts … I’d be happy to slaughter them."
He got off lightly.
Dude is the former president of a country of over a hundred million people and has murdered tens of thousands of people, some of them with his own hands.
You need to get a fucking grip if you think arresting him for his many crimes against humanity is “picking on the little guy”! 🤦
He was and did. Now he’s not. Therefore, they only went after him now that he’s weak and powerless to stop them.
Please go away with your bullshit as I’ll go away with mine.
Pointless posturing…