Source Asia Sentinel

HONG KONG, SAR: At long last, the International Criminal Court has got the former Philippine President Rodrigo R. Duterte into custody to stand trial for the crimes against humanity he is alleged to have committed with the war on drugs he unleashed as head of state, and previously as mayor of his hometown, Davao City.

Arrested on March 11 at the Manila airport on his return from an election campaign sortie to visit supporters among the tens of thousands of Filipina domestic workers in Hong Kong with the help of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), he has been taken to The Hague in the Netherlands to stand trial.

This process of bringing Duterte to the bar of justice has served as a slap on the knuckles of the incumbent Philippine leader, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr although it is also a convenient way of getting rid of the head of a potent political clan out to extinguish the Marcos family’s plans for a permanent ruling dynasty. The ICC steps into human rights cases only when the country concerned is unable or unwilling to act. In this case, the latter was the reason. Duterte was arrested on an ICC warrant that the Interpol presented to the Philippine National Police (PNP), which the PNP was obliged to execute.

So, if anyone gloats claiming, as did Congressman Robert Ace Barbers, that arresting Duterte “is proof that in this country no one is above the law,” they should think again.

Marcos had plenty of time to think over the matter and opt for a course that would avoid putting the country's sovereignty into question. The ICC has been looking into Duterte’s human rights record since 2018, his second year in office, and four years before Marcos succeeded Duterte. Besides, as the senior vice chairperson of the quad committee, Rep. Romeo Acop, noted the congressional committee hearings, where Duterte testified under oath, had uncovered tracks to a “grand criminal enterprise” with Duterte at the center of it.

But Marcos opted for expediency, and used it as a political chip rather than acting righteously as he was expected to as a statesman.

Winning the presidency with Duterte’s daughter Sara as his running mate, Marcos was adamant that Manila would not cooperate with the ICC. Both he and his justice secretary, Jesus Crispin Remulla, have repeatedly said so, citing that the country was no longer a part of the International Criminal Court, since Duterte had pulled the Philippines out of the Rome Statute as the Court began inquiring into his suspected human rights violations. But then, as the Marcos-Duterte partnership soured leading to Vice President Sara Duterte resigning from the Marcos Cabinet, and her father publicly calling the president a drug addict and a son of a whore, Marcos shifted his position.

The Marcos government initially said it wouldn’t cooperate with the ICC, but said in late 2024 it would comply with any arrest warrant. Its justice minister told Reuters in January the government was open to cooperating with the international body. Later, the Philippine National Police said that as a member of the Interpol, it is obliged to cooperate with the Interpol to carry out any arrest warrant.

It was expediency through and through, not statesmanship, said an independent observer following the Duterte-Marcos spat.

Duterte accepted that this was a fate which he could not avoid. His best option, therefore, was to face the local court where, as Asia Sentinel noted on November 4, he could hope for a lenient verdict under what the Philippine Daily Inquirer called the nation’s “bendable laws.” Except for two associate justices, the entire Supreme Court bench comprises Duterte appointees. But Marcos chose not to grant him the benefit of that possibility.

Now that he has to face the ICC, Duterte has only one option, which he has always held firmly. That is, he did not go on a killing spree for personal joy or the benefit of his family. He did it to “protect” the people he was elected to serve.

As mayor, he imposed a street curfew in Davao and banned drinking and smoking in public places. Thus, he transformed Davao, notes Britannica, from a lawless city to among the safest in Southeast Asia. His methods for this transformation, which earned him the moniker “the punisher,” were undoubtedly cruel and undemocratic. Still, the ICC could find itself hard put to prove him guilty. Duterte could argue that he had the mandate to do what he did.

From the very start of his election campaign for the presidency in 2016, he had emphasized that he hated drugs and drug pushers, and he would go after them if elected. More than 16.6 million Filipinos, representing 39 percent of those who participated in the 2016 election, accepted it and voted him into office.

So Duterte could argue that his presidential mandate was to protect the country and its people from the evils of dangerous drugs. “Do not question my policies,” he told the Senate committee. “I offer no apologies, no excuses. I did what I had to do, and whether you believe it or not, I did it for my country."

A day before his arrest, Duterte was in Hong Kong addressing a large gathering of Filipino citizens to win support for his senatorial candidates in the mid-term election in May. The crowd represented a substantial vote bank. Some 60,000 had voted in the 2022 presidential election. He told them that if he is arrested and detained, so be it. “If this is my fate in life…I will accept it. There’s nothing we can do.”

Then, he asked: “What have I done wrong? I did everything during my time so Filipinos can have peace and security.” He went on: Irrespective of the claim, why did he do it? “For myself? For my family? No, for you and your children, for our country.”

Some political pundits had speculated that Duterte’s trip to Hong Kong was to avoid the ICC arresting him and that he would seek the help of the Chinese leader Xi Jinping to remain in Hong Kong or move to another place in China, as the country is not a member of the ICC. But he proved them wrong.

As human rights groups welcomed the arrest and families of the drug war victims celebrated, Duterte supporters held a candlelight vigil in Davao and one of his chief disciples, Sen. Ronald dela Rosa went to the Supreme Court to question the arrest.

For Duterte, this is not the end; this is the beginning of a new firestorm for undermining the Marcos administration and the political future of the Marcos clan.