The arrest warrant was delivered to Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. in Manila at 3am on Monday. The person named above: his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, is a fire engine whose war on drugs has killed thousands of people.
However, since the Philippines is not a member of the court, it was not easy to act on a warrant from the International Criminal Court. So at 6:30am, Marcos' government received another warrant for Duterte. This time, he acted on behalf of the courtroom from Interpol, with the Philippines being a member.
Marcos recalled his next steps in his address to the country on Tuesday. “Okay, let's make all the plans and go as we discussed,” he relayed what he told his Justice Department head.
Just 24 hours later, Duterte was arrested in Manila, after appearing to have long surpassed the law. By the end of Tuesday, he had been placed on a plane tied up to the Hague to face alleged crimes against humanity.
It was a quick coder to a long chapter of the Philippines immunity. Only a handful of people have been convicted in connection with Duterte's murder in the drug war, where it is estimated to have been as many as 30,000. Now those who publicly gave credit for the massacre were sent to court to face justice, due to the change in political winds.
Marcos, son of dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, came to power after he formed an alliance with Sara Duterte, daughter of Duterte. Running on the platform of national unity, they won the presidency and vice president in 2022. However, their convenience marriage began to be resolved quickly, driven by mistrust.
Duterte, who leads the polls to replace Marcos, says he wants to oppose him, cut off his head, dig his father's body, and threaten to throw it into the sea. Her own father called the young Marcos a “drug addict” and a “weak leader.”
Marcos mostly brushed off comments and made little public comments. However, his allies each fired up Duterte last month, negating her political career.
Later, the arrest of her father, who accused her and her allies of political repression, came, but Marcos said he was following an international treaty simply to comply with the Interpol warrant.
“This was justice regardless of the way we came here,” said Maria Ressa, a Nobel Prize-winning journalist who has long been Duterte's target as her news website, Rappler, investigated the drug war.
“Is politics involved now? Politics always involved,” she added. “But in the other world, accountability is coming for you sooner or later, and immunity will not last forever.”
It was still difficult for some Filipinos to believe that such a moment had arrived.
Jenelle Claverio, 27, son of Florekita Perez and Joe Marie Claverio, was killed in December 2019 by a masked man in Nabotas. This week, Perez pumped her first air in an interview when she heard about Duterte's arrest, but she thought she would cry to her partner, so she waited until she told her partner.
She hugged him from behind as they were about to sleep. “I said, 'Hon, Duterte has been arrested.' He turned to me, 'Oh? Can't he get away?'
Duterte landed in the Netherlands Wednesday night and he was to be taken to The Hague, where both the ICC and its detention facilities are based. Court officials said Duterte is not expected to appear in court on Wednesday, but he will likely be arrested before a panel of three judges in the coming days.
The ICC usually has long pretrial lawsuits, with planned trials not expected to begin for months.
Duterte was also on his way to the Hague to help organize her father's legal team. Another daughter of a former leader, Veronica Duterte, posted a screen grab for a video call with her father while on the plane. In one Instagram post, she wrote:
But thousands of people were delighted when the charter flight carrying Duterte took off from an airbase in Manila. For some, it reminded me of when Marcos' father was banished almost 40 years ago and fled to the United States.
Sol Iglesias, assistant professor of political science at the University of the Philippines, said: (Critics accused the younger Marcos of trying to whitewash history for not properly realizing the importance of that day in 1986.)
Iglesias said it is clear that the current president has given him permission to a wide range of campaigns to cut Dutertes' power in recent months.
“None of these would have been possible without his consent,” she said.
Despite having previously pledged not to cooperate with the ICC, Marcos told reporters in November that he would not block the court and had an obligation with Interpol.
Duterte has resigned with one of the highest approved ratings in Philippine history, and while Duterte is leading the presidency in 2028, the arrest has put her in a very vulnerable position. And in recent months, Dutertes has not been able to galvanize the large crowds in protest.
When approving Duterte's arrest, Marcos gambles that he can eliminate Dutertes as a political force without major backlash. The issue could be frontline and center during the mid-term elections, which are considered a proxy battle between Marcos and Dutertes in May.
Two Duterte allies – his former aide, Christopher “Bonn”, goes. Duterte's drug war architect, former police chief Ronald “Bat” Della Rosa, is seeking re-election to the Senate. Later this year, a Philippine senator will decide whether to convict Duterte for her blast each. The ruling against her excludes her from running for top job and then kicking her out.
So far, the public's sentiment appears to be behind Marcos. A March 2024 survey of more than 1,700 Filipinos showed that nearly three out of five approved the ICC survey.
On Wednesday night, in Cotobato city, Duterte's base, residents held banners and lit-up cell phones in protest of the arrest. Hundreds of people appeared, but the demonstrations came out quickly.
Marlise Simons contributed a report from Paris, introducing Aie Balagtas See and Camille Elemia from Manila.
