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Jean Mangaluz - Philstar.com
March 11, 2025 | 2:58pm
President Marcos chats with his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte, who reportedly gave him advice during their meeting at Malacañang the other night.
MANILA, Philippines — Opposition figures have urged the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to fully cooperate with the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte.
Duterte was arrested by the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) and local authorities on Tuesday morning, March 11, for his crimes against humanity. The Palace later confirmed that the former president was in police custody.
Minority lawmaker Sen. Risa Hontiveros, one of the lawmakers who grilled Duterte in the Congressional hearings on extrajudicial killings (EJK), said that this was a long time coming.
During one of the hearings, Duterte famously said that he welcomed the ICC’s arrest.
“I hold onto what former president Duterte said under oath that he will face the case in the International Criminal Court. I hope, as a lawyer, he will follow this process. I also hope that Malacanang will honor its word and accede to all requests of the ICC, through the Interpol, and ensure that justice will run its full course,” Hontiveros said in a mix of English and Filipino.
The Palace previously stated that while the Philippines will not honor requests from the ICC, it is obligated to honor its commitment to Interpol.
Human rights lawyer Chel Diokno, a vocal critic of the drug war and a candidate for the Akbayan Party-list, also expressed solidarity with the families of the EJK victims.
“Duterte must be placed under the ICC’s jurisdiction immediately. The Philippine government must fully cooperate with the Interpol and the ICC, mobilizing all law enforcement agencies to bring him in. The government must act decisively and ensure that he has nowhere to hide. No more safe spaces for tyrants,” Diokno said.
Diokno said that Duterte had been untouchable for too long.
“History catches up with even the most ruthless despots. His reign of terror must meet its inevitable end: his conviction,” Diokno said.
Both Diokno and Hontiveros agree that more work remains to be done in rectifying the past. Hontiveros emphasized that the thousands of people killed during the drug war were not the work of one man. She said that Duterte's arrest by the ICC is just the first step toward achieving justice for all government officials responsible for the mass killings.
“His allies will attempt to shield him, manipulate the system, and derail the process. The government must guarantee full protection for the witnesses and victims’ families, who are now at risk of retaliation. To the Filipino people: let’s make sure Duterte doesn’t just run out of hiding places—let’s run him straight into the arms of justice. The road to accountability is long, but today, it just got a little shorter,” Diokno said.
The ICC had been investigating Duterte's drug war for several years before pausing the investigation in 2021. It resumed in 2023, during the term of President Marcos. Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV, one of the petitioners who filed the case against Duterte in the ICC, celebrated the arrest. He said that his group, the Magdalo Party-list, was one of the proponents who pushed for the case in 2017.
“Sa lahat ng nakasama namin sa mahabang lakbay na ito para sa hustisya ng mga libu-libong EJK victims, maraming salamat po!” Trillanes said.
(To all those who were with us for this journey for justice for thousands of EJK victims, many thanks!)
Duterte's drug war resulted in thousands of deaths. The official government tally reports more than 6,000 people killed in illegal drug operations, all of whom were allegedly resisting arrest. However, human rights activists claim that the true death toll could be as high as 30,000.
