Inside story: Rodrigo Duterte’s ICC arrest

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Once strongman Rodrigo Duterte said he was not afraid of the rumors about an International Criminal Court’s (ICC) warrant. He tried to prove his point and returned home on March 11, after staying in Hong Kong for a campaign activity. 

A high-level source told Rappler that the former president, who waged a drug war that killed nearly 30,000 people, based on human rights groups’ tallies, was supposed to return to the Philippines on Tuesday afternoon, March 11. His allies also posted the same information on their public pages. But as unpredictable as he was during his presidency, Duterte headed home instead on Tuesday morning. 

At 6:20 am, Duterte checked in for his Cathay Pacific CX919 flight from the special Chinese administrative region, to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). The plan landed in Pasay City at around 9:20 am, Interior chief Juanito Victor “Jonvic” Remulla told Rappler in a sit-down interview. 

When everyone else left the plane, a Philippine Center on Transnational Crime (PCTC) representative approached the former president, and the two entered the airplane tube. There, the President was informed of the ICC’s arrest warrant that had been issued against him. Prosecutor General (PG) Richard Fadullon, who once served as acting PG under Duterte, read the former president his Miranda rights as part of standard legal procedures in arrests.

One of Duterte’s closest friends and former executive secretary Salvador Medialdea was with him all throughout. 

NAIA SCENES. Lawyers of Rodrigo Duterte speak to the media after the former president was arrested on the basis of an ICC warrant in connection with a case of crime against humanity, at the NAIA Terminal 3, on March 11, 2025. Jire Carreon/Rappler

The former president and his companions proceeded down the elevator, then went straight to the awaiting coaster. He was brought to Villamor Air Base located only a few kilometers from NAIA. 

“He was informed of the warrant and then he did not put up a fight. He was a gentleman. He stood up and he walked out on his own. He was not accosted, he was not touched, he was not pushed, he was not manhandled. On his own volition, he exited the airplane,” Remulla told Rappler.

A day prior, a source informed Rappler that the Philippine National Police (PNP), under top brass Police General Rommel Francisco Marbil, was preparing for the former president’s arrival. True enough, what welcomed Duterte was tight airport security and a delegation of high-ranking officials led by Criminal Investigation and Detection Group head Police Brigadier General Nicolas Torre III and Fadullon. (READ: PNP prepares for Duterte’s scheduled arrival from Hong Kong)

Torre was tight-lipped about the rumored arrest in the morning, but his confirmation that they were with the Interpol and PCTC gave away what would happen in the next hours.

Detained Duterte

When Duterte was transferred to Villamor Air Base, only a few people — loved ones and some lawyers — were allowed to join him. Outside, his longtime aide Senator Bong Go attempted to enter and deliver a box of pizza. Go called Duterte’s daughter, Kitty, to fetch the food from the gate, since authorities barred the lawmaker from entering. 

Joining Go outside were fellow Duterte allies — former insurgency spokesperson Lorraine Badoy and Trixie Angeles — with over a hundred Duterte supporters who were mostly vloggers. From time to time, they would shout to show support for the detained Duterte, then would call Marcos names to criticize the Palace’s move to implement the arrest. 

While all of these unfolded outside Villamor, Duterte and family were housed inside Maharlika Hall, often reserved for VIPs. Duterte was given everything he needed, Remulla said. Villamor as place of detention, and even the accosting personnel, were all chosen based on certain considerations. It was Marbil who picked Torre to implement the arrest, given his track record of delivering — he was the same police general who led the arrest of Duterte ally, alleged trafficker Apollo Quiboloy. 

It was also a deliberate choice to pick mostly female cops — 20 women in total — to guard Duterte. All of them were wearing body cameras from the airport up to Villamor. 

“The only thing I asked for [should be] lady policemen to accompany him and to accost him. Because the possibilities of male policemen…He could have raised his temper towards them. So he agreed fully and he was very, he was gentlemanly about it,” Remulla explained.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) secretary said they chose Villamor for security, comfort, and proximity — the perfect location since Duterte was to be flown to the ICC headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands.

While Duterte was held under custody, the Marcos government was preparing the necessary permits for his flight. The interior chief revealed to Rappler they had to secure permits from each country Duterte’s aircraft would pass through.

It’s a tedious process which usually takes days to process, but Remulla said they only had hours to process the requirements: “The plane is a leased plane by the Office of the President. It’s a multi-year contract and they [the government] exercised their hours on that lease.”

After nearly 12 hours, Duterte flew to The Hague via a chartered plane at exactly 11:03 pm. It was no less than President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. who confirmed the take-off in a late-night press conference. Duterte arrived in the Netherlands 11:53 pm on Wednesday, March 12 (Manila time). His lawyer Medialdea was given a 15-day visa upon landing at The Hague, while his other two companions were given two-day visas just to rest before they return home. 

Preparations or not

Days ahead of Duterte’s actual arrest, informed sources had already told Rappler of the looming arrest. The warrant was issued Friday, March 7, by an all-women panel of the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I, after they found that the former president allegedly used his Davao Death Squad and law enforcers to kill alleged criminals.

Since the rumors were already circulating, the interior chief said they started their preparations on Monday, March 10, from 9 am until 4 pm. They operated based only on the possibility that there could really be a warrant of arrest against the former president. Remulla said the warrant was actually transmitted to the PCTC and Marbil’s office at 3 am, Tuesday, March 11. Marcos was informed on the same day at 6:30 am, when he woke up.

The President called for a 9 am meeting with the interior chief, along with Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro and National Security Adviser Eduardo Año. Remulla said that before their emergency meeting, they had no concrete plan ahead of the actual arrest.

“That’s how unprepared we were. All we had were the legal theories. All we had were the possibilities. But there was no preparation at all. We had all the legal theories on hand. We had discussed it, scenarios and everything. We did not know if it was real,” he said.

Apart from the drug war victims families, their counsels, and all the organizations who rallied to probe Duterte and have him arrested by the ICC, one former Philippine official was also instrumental in the arrest: former senator Antonio Trillanes IV.

Remulla revealed that the government prepared for Duterte’s possible arrest based on assertions of Trillanes, who had direct contact with the ICC. In 2017, then-senator Trillanes and Magdalo representative Gary Alejano filed a supplemental communication before the ICC, urging the prosecutor to probe into the alleged killings under Duterte.

But the interior chief said they considered Trillanes’ information, took it with a grain of salt and did not opt to craft a meticulous plan based on what they deemed a “rumor.” Remulla said they just waited for an actual copy of the warrant before taking any concrete steps.

“The government, in no way, whatsoever form, did any member of the government, nor branch of the government extend any assistance, aid in investigation, finance any of the fact-finding missions nor give them accommodations of any other kind for it to happen,” Remulla added.

Kitty and commotions

There was no negotiation, Duterte was calm, and while his arrest was being executed, the former president only asked to be allowed to speak with his counsels.

“There were no signs of struggle nor commotion nor rancor inside that room…There were, but not on the authorities’ side. But I think members of his family were upset and emotional. So that was beyond our control,” the interior chief said.

Duterte’s youngest, Kitty, consistently posted updates through her Instagram account. She took videos of her father and Medialdea questioning the arrest, along with photos showing Duterte’s supposed health condition. At one point, she even falsely posted, “Illegal detention. No warrant of arrest.” 

“Sabihin ‘nyo kung saan siya dalahin. Tangina ka,” Kitty told Torre in a video circulating online. (Say where you’re bringing him. Son of a bitch.)

An emotional Kitty inside Villamor was not something the government had anticipated, but Remulla said authorities understood where she was coming from: “We didn’t stop her. We didn’t grab her phone…And if you put yourself in Kitty’s shoes, you would feel the same way. That understanding the nuances of law is beyond their comprehension. That her mind was only for the affections for her father.”

“She was not threatened in any way. She was not bodily pushed or bodily touched in any way to make her stop. We let her express herself. We let her message come out on the media. We did not censor anything,” Remulla added.

Before boarding the aircraft, authorities informed Duterte that he can bring up to three people to accompany him to The Hague. Medialdea, a nurse, and an assistant had been chosen as companions. From the government, there was a PCTC representative, another doctor, and three uniformed personnel: one major, one lieutenant colonel, and one captain.

There was a slight commotion during the boarding, said Remulla: “When they were accosting, when they asked the president to join the plane, I don’t know what the exact nature was, but tempers were rising and then eventually it died down.”

Duterte’s partner Honeylet was not part of Duterte’s entourage because she refused to join, said Remulla.

“The request for the medical history of the [former] president through his common law wife, Honeylet, was recorded. The request, the invitation for her to fly with the president was recorded, her refusal was recorded.”

Honeylet’s refusal to join the trip, was in fact, among the reasons for the delay in the plane’s departure, Torre told ABS-CBN News in an interview. Medialdea volunteered to go instead, and authorities had to update the flight manifest. 

Disinformation

The Palace only gave word about the arrest in the morning, when it confirmed that Duterte was already under custody, and in the late evening, when Marcos addressed the nation. In between, a disinformation battle fueled both anger and sympathy for the former president.

The Duterte camp decried due process. The supporters claimed there was no warrant to begin with, but an actual copy of the warrant became available hours after the arrest. There was also disinformation spread that Duterte was not arrested, but was kidnapped. This was false.

The thin mob of Duterte supporters also protested against the former president’s travel to The Hague because of false information that the Supreme Court (SC) had already issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) to block the arrest, courtesy of Senator Ronald dela Rosa’s petition. This was again not true, and the SC announced on Wednesday that it did not issue an immediate relief, and instead asked the parties to comment on the case.

Remulla said the authorities did not entertain the wave of false information so they could focus on sending Duterte to The Hague.

“Information fills a vacuum. And upon the sign of the president, he decided to prolong the vacuum until we were sure of what we had on hand,” the interior chief told Rappler. “What we informed were two things: We had the president on hand, and the president is being kept safely. We also had intimated that there was a warrant, a valid warrant.”

Duterte will be given the chance to defend himself in The Hague, contrary to claims that he was not and will not be given due process. The Marcos government is ready too, Remulla said, to send a witness to attest to the validity of their arrest.

“Everything was put on video, and we will bring it out in due time. So just to prove the point that we follow the rule of law,” he said.

Memories of EDSA?

In 1986, the family of the incumbent president was ousted via People Power, causing the Marcos family to flee to Hawaii for exile. No other Philippine president — after the late tyrant — has flown to another country over crimes, until Duterte was handed over to the ICC by the Marcos government in 2025.

At the height of Duterte’s arrest, Remulla said his principal was “cool” and calm, but also “melancholic” due to “memories of the past which filled his head.”

“And he said one thing to me which really struck me because it was only the two of us…’Nobody should be happy. There is no reason to celebrate.’ Those are the two phrases which he told me just before we boarded the boat,” he added.

“It seems he’s still traumatized. He knows that this action has further consequences. That it’s not as simple, it is not purely, it is not for political gain. In fact, it makes the water very turbulent going down the road. But it is something he had to do as president. It is something he had to do to fulfill his mandate and to join and to be a formal member of the League of Nations,” Remulla added.

It was clear for human rights organizations and families of drug war victims that Duterte’s arrest was the fruit of their collective struggle to call for justice. Following the arrest, there were accusations that Marcos would use the ICC arrest only for political leverage.

“I’m sure they will say that. But this case started in 2017 when we were still members of the ICC, and it was during the time of former president Duterte. So, I don’t see how that can be political persecution on my part because the, it was initiated before I even came into the picture,” Marcos said in his late-night presser.

Despite everything — Duterte’s arrest and send-off to The Hague — the Marcos administration still appears to have an unclear stand on the ICC. Marcos reiterated that the operation was in compliance with the country’s obligations to the Interpol, while Remulla said they arrested Duterte by following the country’s own legal rules and adhering to the Interpol’s processes.

“It (Duterte’s arrest) was not a strong message about the ICC. It’s a strong message about the rule of law. That in the past, the rule of law did not apply. He (Marcos) was very adamant that all processes, all procedures should be followed,” the DILG secretary said.

Remulla also said that they have yet to discuss with the President the country’s relationship with the ICC, from which it broke away in 2019. Returning to it remains unclear, however, under a Marcos presidency. What is apparent is that Duterte will finally face the court he once dared to come arrest him. – Rappler.com