All the belated legal actions of the camp of the detained unlamented ex-president Rodrigo Duterte before the Supreme Court (SC) amount to whimpering hope since the tribunal already lost jurisdiction over Duterte, who is now safely tucked at the Scheveningen prison in The Hague, which also happens to have a psychiatric unit. This unit will be good for Duterte since it can assess whether he is insane or not, and determine if he is fit enough to stand trial before the International Criminal Court (ICC) even as he comes to grips with his demons alone at his well-appointed cell.
No caterwauling by Duterte’s valet, Sen. Bong Go, or his fellow butcher Sen. Bato de la Rosa, and the pettifoggery of Honeylet Avancena, the misplaced propaganda of Kitty Duterte or the belated habeas corpus petitions filed by impeached Vice President Sara Zimmerman Duterte and Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte will bring back their patriarch who is now set to suffer his first autumn in wintry The Hague. Of course, howling masses of Duterte’s supporters, now reduced to hundreds, but they can never compel the Pre-Trial Chamber I of the ICC to let loose their bogus hero. Ironically, Duterte, described by his sister as a “male chauvinist pig” and condemned by hies own niece, clinical psychologist Nuelle Duterte, for his abuses, will now have to answer questions by the three-member PTC led by Judge Julia Motoc of Romania and Judges Reine Alapini-Gansou of Benin and Socorro Flores Liera of Mexico.
Consider the fact that it took the ICC nearly four years to examine the mountain of evidence produced by the complainants, with testimonies consistent with the admissions of Duterte hitmen, the physical evidence retrieved and the public pronouncements of Duterte himself ordering the killings. Of the 60 arrested for crimes against humanity, ICDC secured the conviction of 11, which indicates that the proceedings had been thorough, and all the accused were afforded due process, the very same thing that Duterte had denied to the 30,000 victims of the drug war, including at least 30 children regarded by de la Rosa as collateral damage when “shit happens.” As the saying goes, “ang isda palaging nahuhuli sa bunganga (fish always gets caught in the mouth),” and Duterte is no exception since he has even bragged about being responsible for the killings during the drug war. It is him talking against his self-interest, practically inviting the ICC to just come and get him. It did on Mar. 11, 2025, the 19th death anniversary of Serb strongman Slobodan Milosevic in one of the 12 ICC cells at the Scheveningen prison.
Now, the swift arrest of Duterte by the ICC through the International Police (Interpol) and Philippine law enforcement has been denounced by the Dutertes and their lackeys, raising 1,000 issues about the apprehension, the “absence of an arrest warrant,” the reading of the Miranda Rights before him, the prevention of former Labor secretary Silvestre “Bebot” Bello III and Sen. Bong Go from meeting Duterte at the international airport, and the insistence that the Philippine National Police (PNP) should have brought Duterte before a local court before his turnover to the ICC. The ICC warrant being “fake,” the army of trolls and crones hissed, Duterte should have been set free. Duterte himself told his partner Honeylet Avancena that there was a warrant of arrest, and asked her and daughter Kitty to leave. He was resigned to be flown to The Hague and knew that he was not spending a minute at Camp Crame.
The Red Notice for Duterte was sent worldwide on Mar. 7, 2025, and Hong Kong authorities could have known on the same day that their visitor Duterte would be arrested. Thus, Beijing’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS) and the Ministry of Public Affairs (MPA) thought it would be impolite to have Duterte nabbed in Hong Kong, which is part of China, and the stage was prepared to issue a meek press release “not to politicize” a very political issue like crimes against humanity. China’s statement is what Filipinos regard as “pampalubag-loob” to show that Xi Jinping has some concern about Duterte’s situation, not his bogus, unredeemed promise to pour in billions of dollars of investment in the Philippines. Not even 5% of those investments materialized. You can’t always get what you want from the Chinese Scrooge.
Since ICC is quite meticulous and is governed by strict rules since 2002, Duterte will have to sit through proceedings on Mar. 14, in which the judges will inform him about the charges against him and his rights under the Rome Statute, along with his right to apply for “interim release.” His counsel at this stage, former executive secretary Salvador Medialdea, may opt for such release but the chamber will have to determine not only the fact that Duterte is a flight risk and his cult followers may plot to spring him from his cell. There is practically no chance the chamber would grant him liberty since humanity has to be protected from those accused of perpetrating crimes against humanity. He will remain in custody and the chamber will set a date for a hearing for a process called confirmation of charges.
“The confirmation of charges in the ICC will be the chance for the court to validate the charges filed against Duterte by the prosecutor,” said lawyer Joel Butuyan, who is representing drug war victims and is just one of five Filipinos accredited as counsel in the ICC. Interestingly, Herminio “Harry” Roque is also accredited to the ICC even as he faces possible arrest once he steps on Philippine soil, which covers the Philippine Embassy in The Hague and Philippine-flagged aircraft and ships. Butuyan, a long-time human rights lawyer, also writes a column for a Philippine broadsheet. Lawyer Cristina Conti of the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL), an assistant to the counsel, represents the families of the victims of Duterte’s drug war, along with former Bayan Muna Rep. Neri J. Colmenares. Rise Up, which supports those families, said Duterte should be denied interim release since he is not only a flight risk but has the capacity to organize the systematic harassment of his accusers and deploy his ragtag army to hunt down his detractors.
The Rome Statute states that evidence presented by the prosecutor should support each charge and establish “substantial grounds to believe that the person committed the crime charged.“ The prosecutor can rely on documentary and summary evidence to pursue the trial, with earlier reports showing that at least 284 murder cases had been corroborated, with the criminal responsibility traced to Duterte himself. In all probability, the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) had also examined the affidavits of retired Davao policeman Arthur Lascanas and hitman Edgar Matobato, their testimonies providing more ammunition to the prosecution, the evidence compiled by the late Redemptorist priest Fr. Amado Picardal covering the murders in Davao City from 1998 to 2015, the evidence accumulated by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the testimonies of the families of the victims. (DIEGO MORRA)
