The former president of Filipino Rodrigo Duterte was arrested after arriving on the Ninoy Aquino international airport in Manila on Tuesday (March 11), after a journey from Hong Kong. He was immediately taken to stop for interrogation.
The arrest was made on the idea of an order issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which was investigating his policy within the war with drugs. The campaign caused quite a few deaths, especially among the many poor.
The Filipino Presidential Office confirmed that Duterte might be handed over to the ICC Member State before being transferred to the headquarters of the Hague court within the Netherlands. The president’s office also assured that Duterte is in good health after his arrest.
Duterte previously expressed readiness to arrest if ICC issued an order. However, his trip to Hong Kong before the incident caused speculation that he was attempting to avoid arrest.
ICC has long been investigating 1000’s of killings related to Duterte’s drug war since 2016. The official investigation began in 2021, covering matters of 2011 – when Duterte was still the mayor of Davao – until 2019, he formally withdrew from the Philippines from ICC.
Meanwhile, the previous Duterte spokesman, Salvador, condemned the arrest as illegal, while international human rights groups considered him a step towards justice.
Rodrigo Duterte fall
The day after taking the office in mid-2016, Duterte launched “Project Double Barrel”, an aggressive anti-flying operation. He repeatedly called for suspects of medicine without the correct trial, even comparing himself with Hitler.
This policy led to 1000’s of deaths in police operations and attacks by masked attackers commonly considered to be security forces. The government recorded 6248 deaths in April 2022, while human rights groups estimated that this number was as much as 30,000.
The concerns about non -court enforcement were prompted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to open the investigation in 2018. In response, Duterte withdrew the Philippines from MTK in 2019, however the court retained jurisdiction over committed crimes, while the country was still a member.
Initially, Duterte enjoyed wide public support within the Philippines, and his daughter Sara Duterte was elected vice chairman in 2022. However, the strain between the Duterte family and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Escalatory, especially after the Philippine government announced in 2024 that this is able to not stop the ICC order.
The conflict led to February 2025, when Sara Duterte was accused of alleged corruption, and Rodrigo Duterte was accused of threatening to kill Marcos Jr. Without the interference of the federal government, ICC continued the case. Thousands of security forces were arranged in anticipation of anxieties, which led to the ultimate arrest of Duterte.
