MANILA – The day of reckoning for former President Rodrigo Duterte over his brutal war on drugs appears to be on the horizon for thousands of families who lost loved ones in his anti-narcotics campaign after his arrest on Tuesday on orders of the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity.

The ex-president was arrested shortly after his Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong landed at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) at 9:20 a.m., touching off a virtual tug-of-war between his lawyers and the authorities well into the night before Duterte was put on a chartered flight to The Hague in the Netherlands.

The Gulfstream G550 jet, with tail No. RPC5219, took off at 11:03 p.m. with the first Asian former head of state to face trial in the international tribunal after his arrest by Interpol.

A government aviation source said the plane would make a refueling stop in Dubai before proceeding to The Hague.

Shortly after the plane took off, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said in a news conference that bringing him to The Hague would allow “the former president to face charges of crimes against humanity in relation to his bloody war on drugs.”

He said the arrest was “in compliance” to the country’s commitment to Interpol.

“Interpol asked for help, and we obliged because we have commitments to Interpol which we have to fulfill. If we don’t do that, they will no longer help us with other cases involving Filipino fugitives abroad,” he said.

Duterte had reportedly requested to see the ICC arrest warrant after being told by a government prosecutor who met him inside the aircraft that there was a “notification” for his arrest.

Based on a video shared with the media, it was at this point that the former president told the officer who came for him: “You will just have to kill me if I don’t agree [to be arrested], if you side with the [foreigners].”

Despite his strong statement, Duterte, his partner Honeylet Avanceña, their daughter Veronica, his former Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, and several aides followed their escorts out of the plane.

They were bused to Kalayaan, the VIP hall of the 250th Presidential Airlift Wing at Villamor Air Base close to Naia Terminal 3.

A video showed Maj. Gen. Nicolas Torre III, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the Philippine National Police, reading the Miranda rights to the former president at Kalayaan.

Malacañang confirmed in a statement that the ICC had issued the arrest warrant against Duterte and it was received by the Interpol office in Manila before he arrived from Hong Kong.

Torre explained to Duterte that he was “deputized” by the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime (PCTC), which works with the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), to implement the arrest warrant issued by the ICC.

Kitty’s posts

Duterte listened to Torre while seated on a tall white chair while most of the people in his entourage stood around him in the room.

From Villamor, Duterte’s daughter Veronica, nicknamed Kitty, posted pictures and videos of her father on her Instagram account. She said her father was the victim of illegal detention as there was no warrant of arrest against him.

“What is the law and what is the crime that I committed? Show to me now the legal basis for my being here. Apparently, I was brought here not of my own volition [but] somebody else’s. If it’s not another person, maybe it’s you because this is your structure, so you have to answer now for the deprivation of (my) liberty,” Duterte told someone, apparently Torre, in one of Veronica’s videos.

Medialdea was heard saying that the arrest warrant was “questionable” as Duterte was not informed of the charges against him.

“Aren’t you bothered that we’re doing this? We’re obeying an entity which we are no longer a member of. We have already withdrawn,” he said, referring to the Rome Statute which established the ICC. Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the treaty in March 2019.

The ICC maintains that crimes committed from November 2011, when Duterte was serving as mayor of Davao City, until March 2019, were still under the court’s jurisdiction.

The Learjet carrying former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, takes off from Villamor Air Base in Pasay, Metro Manila on March 11, 2025. PHOTO: AFP

‘Affront to PH sovereignty’

His other daughter, impeached Vice President Sara Duterte, who has broken with the administration of President Marcos, denounced the move to “forcibly” fly her father out of the country.

“Today, our own government has surrendered a Filipino citizen — even a former president at that — to foreign powers. This is a blatant affront to our sovereignty and an insult to every Filipino who believes in our nation’s independence,” she said in a statement after she returned to Manila in the afternoon, also from Hong Kong.

“Worse, former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is being denied his fundamental rights,” she said.

The vice president said her father was not presented to “any competent judicial authority” where he could challenge the arrest.

“This is not justice — this is oppression and persecution,” she said. “God save the Philippines.”

But Sen. Risa Hontiveros said it was justice for the victims of extrajudicial killings in Duterte’s drug war.

“The day that the families of thousands of Filipinos killed in the bloody ‘tokhang’ (raids) have been waiting for has arrived,” she said in a statement.

Hontiveros said she was holding Duterte to his promise that he would face the case before the ICC.

“I hope that as a lawyer, he would follow the process,” she said.

Sen. Christopher Go, lawyers Martin Delgra III, Silvestre Bello III, Victor Rodriguez, and Israelito Torreon, as well as the former president’s personal doctor, Dr. Agnes del Rosario, were waiting for him at Naia before 9 a.m.

They were supposed to welcome Duterte back home, but their access passes were revoked.

“It’s sad. As I told the policemen, they will be arresting a person who only did his job for the country,” Go later said.

Later in the day, Torreon filed a petition to stop the arrest of Duterte in the Supreme Court. There was no word on the court’s response as of press time.

At around 10:30 a.m., Go, Delgra, and Bello briefly faced the media outside the airport VIP lounge where a crowd of kibitzers was chanting Duterte’s name.

Denied entry

They later headed to Villamor to try to see the former president, but they were denied entry into the air base.

Delfin Lorenzana, Duterte’s former defense secretary, was also not allowed into Villamor.

“I’m going to PRRD,” he told the military police at Gate 4 without introducing himself. “Negative, sir. It was the instruction to us, sir.”

“Okay, let’s go then,” he told those who went there with him.

He later echoed Medialdea’s views against the ICC warrant of arrest.

“That’s correct, there should be due process,” he said. Without addressing any specific PNP official, he said: “Somebody tells you to arrest someone, and you would arrest him right away?”

Go, a longtime aide of the ex-president, said Duterte’s health “should be prioritized over anything else due to his age.” Duterte will turn 80 on March 28.

He brought an ambulance to the airport as Duterte was supposed to undergo a checkup and a medical procedure at Cardinal Santos Medical Center on Friday.

Bello said he was able to speak with Marbil, who introduced him to special envoy on transnational crime Markus Lacanilao. Lacanilao showed him the supposed arrest warrant, but Bello said it was merely a “document.”

At around 11:30 a.m., the senator also ordered food for the Dutertes, but it was also not allowed inside the military base.

“Let us stay calm and let us pray for the former president,” Go said while insisting that Duterte had the right to seek medical attention.

Go said the arrest was not unexpected as the Duterte camp had heard about it in the past few days. He said Duterte was ready to face the situation he was in.

Former Marcos press secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles, who was also not allowed to enter Villamor, told reporters that the government should clarify whether it had already changed its stance concerning ICC jurisdiction.

“Don’t we have anymore say on the issue? By allowing a foreign authority to take a citizen of the Republic, it’s like we’re allowing a citizen to be kidnapped,” Angeles replied when asked about the possibility that Duterte would be flown directly to ICC from Villamor.

She said the administration, should it be found out to have been talking with the ICC on the Duterte case all along, would be “violating our own sovereignty” as Mr. Marcos had been saying that the ICC no longer had jurisdiction over the Philippines.

Asia News Network/Philippine Daily Inquirer