ASEANEWS-COURTS & CRIME | MANILA: Duterte arrested, put on flight to ICC

• Rody camp runs to SC

• ‘You have to kill me first’

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MANILA, Philippines — Former president Rodrigo Duterte was arrested for crimes against humanity upon his arrival from Hong Kong yesterday, and was flown last night to The Hague in the Netherlands, home of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The Philippine government enforced an ICC arrest warrant coursed through the Interpol initially through a “diffusion request” – a mechanism for arresting wanted persons that is sent directly to a state and kept confidential.

Passengers on Cathay Pacific flight CX 907 were made to disembark first upon its arrival yesterday morning at the NAIA  before a team escorted Duterte from his seat.

Duterte lamented that the team was following orders from white people – “mga puti” – and said that without a warrant, “you have to kill me first.”

He eschewed the use of a wheelchair as he was led to the airport ramp and taken to neighboring Villamor Air Base, from where he boarded a jet at past 9 p.m. for The Hague.

Philippine National Police chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil and PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group director Maj. Gen. Nicolas Torre led more than 300 police officers in carrying out the arrest at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 at around 9:20 a.m.

Duterte was accompanied on the flight to The Hague, where the Interpol is also based, by his former executive secretary Salvador Medialdea, who also flew in with him from Hong Kong where the President campaigned for his Senate slate.

Torre met Duterte and his entourage on the passenger boarding bridge or tube where he read the former president – on his mobile phone – the information on his arrest.

 

In a video shared by his daughter Veronica on Instagram, Duterte’s common-law wife Honeylet Avanceña attempted to stop him from joining law enforcement authorities who were escorting him out, saying aloud that what they were doing was unfair.

From the airport, Duterte was escorted to a coaster which brought him to the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City.

Duterte and Medialdea initially resisted having the former president flown to the Netherlands.

“This I’m telling you sir – we can do this the hard way, we can do this the easy way,” Torre was shown in a video telling Medialdea. “There is a bus there, and you can go to the plane.”

Veronica was complaining in the video that police officers were taking her father to a plane by force without considering his health conditions. The video stopped before Torre could give details of the second option.

Duterte’s camp said his blood glucose level had surged and he needed medical attention in a hospital. The request was brushed aside by the security team.

Video footage showed Duterte in the evening asleep in a sofa at Villamor Air Base, shortly before he was  brought to the jet that would take him to The Hague.

In a video recording earlier at the Air Force facility also shared by his daughter, Duterte was seen demanding an explanation from the authorities on why he was being detained.

“Show to me now the legal basis for my being here as apparently I was brought here not of my own volition,” he said. “What is the law and what is the crime that I committed?”

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Torre read the Miranda Rights to Duterte and excerpts of the ICC warrant, which was the basis for his arrest.

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile said the Philippine government had nothing to do with Duterte’s legal woes.

“The current legal problem of former President Rodrigo R. Duterte is not caused by Philippine laws. His legal problem is caused by laws enforceable by the International Criminal Court,” Enrile said on Meta.

Duterte’s lawyers, he added, should endeavor to secure a copy of the ICC charges against him so that they would know why he was ordered arrested.

“Philippine domestic laws  have nothing to do with his current legal problem,” the Cabinet official said.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said he has not informed the Philippine embassy in The Hague of the development.

“This is a development which is being handled by other agencies, especially the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Philippine National Police and the Department of Justice,” Manalo told reporters in a chance interview after a meeting with Slovenian Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon yesterday.

“We defer all activities or matters on this issue to them. I’m really not familiar with the procedure, because as you know, we’re not a member of the ICC,” Manalo said. “I can’t speculate, we have to see how the events unfold.”

Red notice

The PNP, in a statement yesterday afternoon, said it assisted the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime in the implementation of a red notice alert for Duterte issued by the International Criminal Police Organization or Interpol.

The PNP deployed 379 police officers at NAIA and other key locations to ensure a peaceful and orderly process of placing Duterte under government custody.

“In fulfilling this role, the organization upholds its duty to enforce the law with professionalism and adherence to due process,” it said in a statement.

The PNP urged the public to remain calm and avoid spreading misinformation. It also cautioned the public against the spread of what it described as fake news and advised the people to rely only on official government sources for information.

Following his arrest, Duterte’s allies began to converge at the Villamor Air Base. Among them was his longtime aide Sen. Bong Go, who brought food for the former president and his family.

However, police officers prevented the senator from entering the military facility, which angered the lawmaker.

Go confronted PNP spokesperson Brig. Gen. Jean Fajardo and asked her if he could be allowed to  visit Duterte, but the police official avoided him.

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“Ayaw ako kausapin (She wouldn’t talk to me), spokesperson ng PNP,” Go fumed.

Tension also erupted between Torre and  Duterte’s lawyers, Medialdea and former Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board chairman Martin Delgra III over booking procedures for the former president.

In a video which circulated on Facebook, Torre insisted that Duterte should be booked immediately.

“What is clear is the need to do the booking process, period,” Torre told Delgra.

Delgra pleaded with Torre for Duterte to be allowed  to be transferred to a hospital where he could be examined and where the booking process could be held.

“Is that too much to ask?” Delgra asked Torre who then replied: “Yes sir that’s too much.”

It was then Avanceña confronted Torre, stressing that Duterte is almost 80 years old.

Torre retorted: “Ilang daang Pilipino ang nahuli ngayong araw na ito. Ilan ang binook sa ospital (How many of the hundreds of Filipinos arrested today were booked at hospitals)?”

Medialdea interjected and asked Torre how many presidents had been booked.

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Due process

As supporters of Duterte were crying foul over his arrest, Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon stressed that the former president was read his rights and informed of the charges against him.

“Clearly it was read to him that the warrant of arrest issued by the International Criminal Court was on the following charges, crimes against humanity and murder. Precisely, we observed due process by reading him his rights and ensuring that the dignity of the former president is protected,” Fadullon said.

“There is an existing warrant for his arrest issued by the ICC. If questions wish to be raised on the validity of the warrant, it should be raised before the court that issued it and not before the arresting officers implementing the same,” he said.

“We are here only to ensure that the manner of arrest is done in accordance with the law,” he added.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), for its part, has assured the public of its readiness to help in maintaining order in case groups sympathetic to the former president would take advantage of the situation to sow discord.

“Legal and political developments involving former officials fall under the jurisdiction of the appropriate government agencies. But as a professional organization, the AFP adheres to the chain of command, and we remain focused on our mandate,” AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla told reporters yesterday.

“However, together with the appropriate government agencies, we stand ready sir to reinforce efforts to uphold national security and stability when necessary,” she added.

Padilla said the AFP cannot speculate on what would unfold next after Duterte’s arrest. “But for the side of the AFP, as I said earlier, we are ready and prepared to augment as necessary when requested,” she said.

Asked why the former president was being held at the Villamor Air Base, Castillo explained it was normal for secured facilities of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) to be used as arrival or departure points for moving or keeping certain important personalities.

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“For operational security, we however defer to the concerned government agency responsible for this activity to confirm and give specific details,” she said. — Pia Lee-Brago, Evelyn Macairan, Michael Punongbayan, Alexis Romero, Diana Lhyd Suelto