An elected leader once dubbed \u201cThe Punisher\u201d is on his way to The Hague to face trial for crimes against humanity during a brutal war on drugs, in a breathtaking reversal of fortune for a politician who once openly boasted about killing people and placing opponents on hit lists. <\/p>\n
Rodrigo Duterte ran the Philippines for six turbulent years, during which he oversaw a brutal crackdown on drugs, openly threatened critics with death and tongue-lashed a host of global leaders from the Pope to former US President Barack Obama. <\/p>\n
A former prosecutor, congressman and mayor, Duterte built his no-holds-bared reputation in the southern Philippine city of Davao. He swept to the presidency in 2016 on a populist \u2013 and popular \u2013 promise to replicate the hardline tactics of his hometown and wage war against drugs and drug pushers across the Southeast Asian nation. <\/p>\n
\u201cAll of you who are into drugs, you sons of b**ches, I will really kill you,\u201d he told a huge crowd in one of his many characteristically profane-laced 2016 campaign speeches. \u201cI have no patience, I have no middle ground. Either you kill me or I will kill you idiots.\u201d <\/p>\n
Once in power he unleashed what rights groups called \u201cdeath squads\u201d to eradicate drug pushers \u2013 many of the victims young men from impoverished shanty towns, shot by police and rogue gunmen as part of a campaign to target dealers. <\/p>\n
Police data said 6,000 people were killed. Some rights groups say the death toll could be as high as 30,000 with innocents and bystanders often caught in the crossfire. <\/p>\n
Duterte\u2019s blood-soaked presidency ended in 2022. Three years later, only 8 policemen had been convicted for 5 of the victims killed in the war on drugs, according to court documents. <\/p>\n
The ICC launched an investigation into allegations of \u201ccrimes against humanity\u201d committed by Duterte during both his time as national leader and mayor of Davao. <\/p>\n
Duterte has long denied the accusations of human rights abuses and contends the drug issue is one for domestic law enforcement. He has repeatedly said he will not kowtow to foreign jurisdiction and taunted the ICC, urging prosecutors to \u201churry up\u201d and move on him. <\/p>\n
Two days before his arrest, he slammed the ICC in a typically fiery speech to supporters in Hong Kong. <\/p>\n
\u201cFrom my own news, I have a warrant\u2026from the ICC or something\u2026 these motherf***ers have been chasing me for a long time. What did I do wrong ?\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
But the tide had suddenly turned. Authorities were waiting for Duterte to return from Hong Kong, and arrested him at the main airport in Manila, sparking chaotic scenes. <\/p>\n
As the news filtered out, many were left in shock. <\/p>\n
Some flocked to churches in the majority Catholic country to attend impromptu mass to commemorate the thousands of victims of his drug war, seeing the move as a first step towards overdue justice. <\/p>\n
And just before midnight, Duterte was back on a plane \u2013 this time bound for the Netherlands what appeared to be a stunning end to stormy and violent stint at the top of Philippine politics. <\/p>\n
The arrest likely owes more to Duterte being on the wrong side of a feud between two of the Philippine\u2019s most high-profile families than the might of the ICC, which cannot carry out arrests on its own and relies on the cooperation of national governments to execute warrants <\/p>\n
Duterte\u2019s clan was previously in an alliance with the famed Marcos political dynasty, with his daughter his daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio serving as deputy to current President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. <\/p>\n
But in recent months the alliance collapsed, descending into public tirades and name-calling. <\/p>\n
In October, Duterte-Carpio aired a litany of grievances against the president in a two-hour livestreamed press conference, saying she \u201cwanted to chop his head off.\u201d <\/p>\n
Then she said in an online news conference on November 23 that she had contracted an assassin to kill Marcos, his wife and Romualdez if she were killed, a threat she warned wasn\u2019t a joke. <\/p>\n
Marcos had <\/strong>said the Philippines will \u201cdisengage\u201d from any contact with the ICC, as Manila does not recognize its authority over matters of national sovereignty. <\/p>\n That\u2019s because Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the court in 2019. <\/p>\n But under the ICC\u2019s withdrawal mechanism, the court keeps jurisdiction over crimes committed during the membership period of a state. <\/p>\n But President Marcos said he was obliged to follow Interpol\u2019s request to arrest Duterte. <\/p>\n \u201cInterpol asked for help, and we obliged because we have commitments to the Interpol, which we have to fulfil. If we don\u2019t do that, they will not, they will no longer help us with other cases involving Filipino fugitives abroad,\u201d Marcos said in a late-night presser after the plane carrying Duterte took off. <\/p>\n Carlos Conde, a Philippines researcher for Human Rights Watch (HRW) Conde said Duterte\u2019s swift arrest and removal was a \u201cpleasant surprise\u201d that caught also a lot of people off guard. <\/p>\n \u201cBut there is this mixed feeling of joy and hope and anxiety because we do not exactly know where this will end up to what will be the outcome. Will there really be accountability?\u201d said Parong, who is also co-chair of the Philippine Coalition for the ICC (PCICC). <\/p>\n But she cautioned it would be an excruciatingly long road to justice. <\/p>\n \u201cIt is time consuming. It will take years before there will be a conviction at the International Criminal Court. The waiting is really difficult for the victims and the families of the victims of the bloody war on drugs.\u201d <\/p>\n Located in The Hague in the Netherlands, the ICC investigates and prosecutes individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and crimes of aggression against the territory of its member states, of which there are 125. <\/p>\n Duterte\u2019s arrest and transfer is a significant victory for the body. The court cannot carry out arrests on its own and relies on the cooperation of national governments to execute warrants \u2013 which often rests on domestic politics and political will on whether to follow through. <\/p>\n Many of those on its wanted list remain at large, unruffled by the serious charges laid against them. <\/p>\n The court has been rounded on by the United States for seeking the arrests of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for Israel\u2019s military actions in Gaza following Hamas\u2019 October 7, 2023, attack. <\/p>\n The ICC simultaneously sought the arrests of top Hamas leaders, including Yahya Sinwar, who was later killed. <\/p>\n Neither the US nor Israel are members of the ICC. <\/p>\n The court has also issued a warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for his invasion of Ukraine, although it is unlikely the warrant will be served any time soon. Putin travelled to ICC member Mongolia last year, but was not arrested. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An elected leader once dubbed \u201cThe Punisher\u201d is on his way to The Hague to face trial for crimes against humanity during a brutal war on drugs, in a breathtaking reversal of fortune for a politician who once openly boasted about killing people and placing opponents on hit lists. Rodrigo Duterte ran the Philippines for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} What comes next?<\/h2>\n
What is the ICC?<\/h2>\n