Philippine govt says it has to comply if Interpol seeks ex-president Duterte’s arrest

MANILA – The Philippine government said on Nov 13 it will not stand in the way if former president Rodrigo Duterte wants to surrender to the International Criminal Court (ICC), and will be obliged to comply if his arrest is sought over his war on drugs.

During a congressional hearing into the bloody crackdown on the illegal drug trade that left thousands of Filipinos dead, the mercurial Mr Duterte said he is not scared of the ICC and told it to

“hurry up” with its investigation

into its allegations of crimes against humanity.

The office of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr issued a statement hours later indicating it is willing to consider handing Mr Duterte over if an Interpol request is made.

“The government will feel obliged to consider the red notice as a request to be honoured, in which case the domestic law enforcement agencies shall be bound to accord full cooperation,” Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said.

The statement is significant, marking the first time the Philippine government has suggested it will cooperate with the ICC, which in 2023 cleared the way for an investigation into the bloody campaign that defined Mr Duterte’s 2016-2022 presidency.

Mr Duterte unilaterally withdrew the Philippines from the ICC in March 2019 after it opened a preliminary examination of the killings. The court has said its prosecutors have jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed before the withdrawal.

In the statement, Mr Bersamin said the government would neither object nor block Mr Duterte if he wishes to surrender.

Duterte defiant

Mr Duterte remained defiant during the hearing as he

defended his drugs crackdown

, which was a key plank of his election campaign, during which he promised thousands would be killed.

“(The) ICC does not scare me a bit. They can come here anytime. I suppose that you would want to maybe make it easy for them to visit and start the investigation. I would welcome that,” he said.

“I have nothing to hide. What I did, I did it for my country and for the young people. No excuses. No apologies. If I go to hell, so be it,” he added.

The 79-year old said he was getting impatient, and asked the ICC to “hurry up” and “come here and start the investigation tomorrow”.

According to police data, more than 6,200 people died in anti-drug operations under Mr Duterte, during which police typically said they killed suspects in self-defence.

But human rights groups believe the real toll to be far greater, with thousands more users and small-time peddlers killed in mysterious circumstances by unknown assailants.

“I assume full responsibility for whatever happened in the actions taken by law enforcement agencies of this country to… stop the serious problem of drugs affecting our people,” Mr Duterte said. REUTERS