Rodrigo Duterte arrested on ICC warrant over ‘reign of terror’ drug war

Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte on plane bound for The Hague after he was arrested over the extrajudicial killings of thousands of people in his stated ‘war on drugs’.

Former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte, left, at Villamor Air Base in Manila after arriving from Hong Kong. Picture: AFP

Rodrigo Duterte, the former Philippines president whose six-year term quickly descended into a deadly reign of terror, was arrested in Manila on Tuesday on an Interpol warrant issued at the request of the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.

The 79-year-old was detained on arrival in The Philippines capital from Hong Kong over the extrajudicial killings of thousands of people by death squads alleged to be operating under his authority in his “war on drugs”.

A flight carrying Mr Duterte left Manila late Tuesday night local time, (2am Wednesday AEDT), President Ferdinand “Bong Bong” Marcos confirmed during a press briefing shortly after takeoff.

“The plane is en route to The Hague in the Netherlands allowing the former president to face charges of crimes against humanity in relation to his bloody war on drugs,” he said.

Earlier human Rights advocates had called on Mr Marcos Jr to hand over the former leader to The Hague to face justice.

“For decades, Duterte thought himself untouchable _ above the law, beyond accountability. But history catches up with even the most ruthless despots. His reign of terror must meet its inevitable end; his conviction,” said lawyer Chel Diokno, whose Free Legal Assistance Group represented dozens of victims and their families.

In a low-key statement belying the enormity of its actions, the Marcos administration on Tuesday confirmed its prosecutor general had served Mr Duterte with the ICC notice for an arrest warrant. “He is now in the custody of authorities,” an official said.

Mr Marcos Jr was elected in 2022 with the support of Mr Duterte, whose daughter, Sara, is Vice-President. But the two families have fallen out spectacularly, and Ms Duterte is facing an impeachment trial on charges of corruption, involvement in extrajudicial killings and plotting the assassination of the President.

Many believe the political schism cleared the way for Mr Duterte’s arrest.

From 2016 to 2022 anywhere between 6200 and 30,000 people were killed as alleged drug dealers, their bloodied bodies found with alarming regularity in urban slums and poor neighbourhoods across The Philippines.

Police put the death toll at just over 6000. Human rights advocates say it was more than 30,000.

In reality, no one can say for sure how many were killed under Mr Duterte’s watch because no reckoning has ever occurred into the nightly police raids and executions.

Supporters of former president Rodrigo Duterte gather outside Villamor Airbase, where Mr Duterte was taken following his arrest. Picture: Getty Images

No one was spared in the former president’s drug war – not the elderly, not teenagers, mothers and fathers, nor terrified habitual or occasional drug users who sought treatment for their addiction in the hope of avoiding an assassin’s bullet.

Hundreds of thousands of them surrendered to government rehab programs believing it would keep them safe, only to render them easy targets.

Among them was Jeremiah Magno, a young single father who had been drug-free for months by the time two motorcyclists stopped outside his mother’s Manila shophouse in 2016 and shot him as he sat outside, in full view of his neighbours and his three-year-old daughter, Nathalie.

At his funeral, the little girl would repeatedly ask to be lifted up to see her dead father’s face.

Dozens of children were inadvertently killed by hitmen who cared little for the collateral damage in the pursuit of cash bounties for each dead alleged dealer. It is hard to overstate how dark this time was for many Filipinos, even those who supported Mr Duterte’s election vow to rid the streets of drug criminals and “feed the fish in Manila Bay with their remains”.

Many wondered whether they or their loved ones might be next, perhaps falsely accused by a vengeful neighbour and shot in a staged police encounter.

Tuesday’s extraordinary arrest – one most believed would never happen – is the culmination of years of ICC investigations into drug killings under Mr Duterte that date back to 2011 when, as mayor of the southern city of Davao, he openly empowered death squads to target anyone accused of involvement in the drugs trade.

While his former presidential spokesman, Salvador Panelo, on Tuesday claimed the arrest was “unlawful” because The Philippines was withdrawn from the ICC in 2018, The Hague court claims to have jurisdiction for crimes committed before that date.

Human Rights Watch senior researcher Carlos Conde told The Australian Mr Duterte’s arrest was a small victory for the thousands of victims of his war on drugs but “the outstanding issue is whether the Marcos administration makes good on its promise to co-operate with Interpol processes”.

“Duterte will try to depict himself as a martyr here but given the enormity of the horror he created in The Philippines I doubt he will be successful,” he said.