Former president of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte was arrested in Manila this past Tuesday and has been taken to The Hague.
Returning to Manila from Hong Kong on Tuesday, former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte was arrested on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The warrant accuses Duterte of crimes against humanity related to the deadly war on drugs he waged during his presidency.
The 79-year-old Duterte was detained at Manila’s international airport and within hours was on a chartered jet flying via Dubai to The Hague in the Netherlands.
Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said at a press conference on Tuesday that the former president could face charges for the thousands of extrajudicial killings that took place when he cracked down on drugs in the Philippines during his 2016 to 2022 presidential term. Thousands of suspected drug users, mostly poor, were regularly found dead on the streets despite no evidence of their being linked to drugs. Human rights activists and families of the victims filed a complaint with the ICC against Duterte in 2018.
Experts say that although Marcos Jr. did not say so outright, Duterte’s arrest reflects the political rivalry between the two families. The long shadow of US-China relations extends over the Philippines as well, as the Marcos family is considered pro-American, while the Duterte family is considered pro-China. The situation in the South China Sea therefore is significantly influenced by which family is in power.
Hanna Bilinski, Rti News