FORMER president Rodrigo Duterte questioned the basis of the arrest order of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Duterte was whisked to the Kalayaan Lounge of Villamor Air Base after he was served the ICC arrest order upon arrival yesterday at Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport from Hong Kong.
A social media post from Sen. Christopher Go showed Duterte accompanied by former executive secretary Salvador Medialdea and Duterte’s lawyer, Martin Delgra III.
While at the Kalayaan Lounge, the former president demanded a copy of the basis of his arrest, saying he was deprived of his liberty.
“What is the basis for my detention? So, what is the law and what is the crime that I committed? Show to me now the legal basis for my being here as apparently, I was brought here not of my own volition. It’s somebody else’s” he said.
“May I know the reason why? Have you read the documents or at least have you read the case at the time you made the arrest so that you would be guided to what you should know?” he asked the arresting team which included CIDG Director Nicolas Torre III, who read the Miranda rights to the former president.
Before disembarking from the plane, Duterte said: “You will just have to kill me, kung hindi ako papayag kung, kakampi ka d’yan sa mga puti (You will just have to kill me [because] I do not agree that you will [arrest me and] side with foreigners),” he said.
Medialdea said Duterte was not informed of the reason for his arrest. He also slammed the arresting team for obeying an order from the ICC, insisting that the Philippines is no longer under the jurisdiction of the international court after the Duterte administration withdrew from the Rome Statute.
“Hindi ba kayo naa-ano na ganito ginagawa natin? Sumusunod tayo sa isang entity na hindi na tayo miyembro, nag-withdraw na tayo (Aren’t you bothered that we are doing this? We are obeying an order from an entity in which we are not a member anymore, have withdrawn from) … Sir, you are the Prosecutor General you know how to exercise due process… Before you can even file charges, you have to file a complaint, we have to file a counter-affidavit. Without doing those procedural process, here we are serving the questionable warrant of arrest,” Medialdea said.
In an interview with SMNI from Hong Kong before flying back to Manila, Duterte said he may have done some things that are not to the liking of some people “but I did it for my country.”
Duterte said he did not enrich himself or his family during the six years he was president, adding he did not add any structures in his house in Davao City or bought a new vehicle which may show that he amassed money while in Malacañang.
Duterte and his family were in Hong Kong last Sunday attending a thanksgiving event of overseas Filipino workers. The event was organized by the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.
‘UNLAWFUL’
Former chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo said Duterte’s arrest was unlawful because the PNP allegedly did not allow at least one of his lawyers to meet him at the airport.
“He was deprived of legal representation at the time of his arrest. The PNP did not have a hard copy of the warrant of arrest. By not allowing one of his lawyers to meet him, the arresting team could avoid being asked if they have the hard copy of the arrest warrant,” Panelo said.
He added the arrest is illegal because it came from the ICC, which he described as a “spurious source” as he insisted that it has no jurisdiction over the Philippines.
“The government action will make the arresting team as well as the public officials ordering the arrest criminally liable,” Panelo said.
Davao City mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte, in a social media post, echoed Panelo’s statement, saying that “clowns are behaving like clowns again” for serving an arrest warrant from the ICC which has no jurisdiction over the Philippines and Filipinos.
“They are insisting that PRRD get on a plane to who knows where using an ICC warrant which does not have jurisdiction in this country. Clowns behaving like clowns again. This has to end,” he said.
He alleged his father’s arrest is allegedly an attempt of the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to divert attention from issues hounding the 2025 national budget. The former president, through the city mayor’s YouTube channel, had previously questioned the existence of alleged blank pages in the signed 2025 national budget.
“Bongbong Marcos admin is fantasizing that this scenario would materialize hoping that the issue on the national budget would just go away. The smell of desperation,” the city mayor said.
‘INSULT TO FILIPINOS’
Vice President Sara Duterte said the government “has surrendered a Filipino citizen — even a former president at that — to foreign powers,” which she said, is “a blatant affront to our sovereignty and an insult to every Filipino who believes in our nation’s independence.”
“This act shows the world that this government is willing to abandon its own citizen and betray the very essence of our sovereignty and national dignity. God save the Philippines,” she said.
The vice president returned to the country from Hong Kong yesterday afternoon following her father’s arrest.
The Office of the Vice President (OVP) said the vice president arrived at NAIA at around 3:21 p.m. via Philippine Airlines flight no. PR 319.
Sara and her family, along with her father, visited Hong Kong over the weekend where they met with overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) for a thanksgiving event in Wan Chai where they were accompanied by several senatorial candidates of the PDP-Laban.
Earlier on Tuesday, the OVP said in a statement: “The Vice President is accompanied by her children and will address any relevant matters at the appropriate time. We kindly ask for your understanding as she attends to these matters.”
‘ILLEGALLY DETAINED’
Veronica “Kitty” Duterte, daughter of the former president, claimed they were being “illegally detained” at the Villamor Air Base.
“We are being illegally detained at 205th Presidential Airlift Wing, Col. Jesus Villamor Air Base, Pasay City. They aren’t allowing my dad to seek medical attention he badly needs,” the young Duterte said in an Instagram post.
Kitty posted a photo of her father’s supposed appointment with Dr. Rosa Allyn Sy at the Cardinal Santos Medical Center for a follow-up consultation, saying the elder Duterte’s blood sugar level has shot up despite having an insulin shot and was advised to be admitted to the hospital to manage his diabetes.
Baste also slammed the government for allegedly denying medical care to his father.
In a separate social media post, Baste said: “They want a prolonged standoff by using Torre to illegally detain and deny PRRD of medical care. It seems to me that they are trying to murder the old man.”
The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) has said that the elder Duterte was examined by government doctors upon his arrival from Hong Kong and was found to be in good condition.
Sen. Christopher Go and former labor secretary Silvestre Bello III, one of the legal counsels of the former president, said the older Duterte was supposed to undergo a check up and medical procedure at the Cardinal Santos Medical Center today.
Go, in an interview at the NAIA Terminal 3 while waiting for Duterte’s arrival, said the former president has been complaining of back pains.
He said an ambulance from the Cardinal Santos hospital was waiting at the airport, which was supposed to take him to the hospital to prepare him for the medical procedure.
He added the former president’s personal doctor was among those who were supposed to meet Duterte upon his arrival, but they were not allowed to meet the ex-chief executive.
He alleged his airport access was cancelled, adding that they were also barred from seeing his former boss at the Kalayaan Lounge.
He said, however, that he was able to talk with Duterte and assured him that he and other supporters are at the vicinity of Villamor Airbase if he needs anything.
“Nandito lang kami ano man ang kailangan niyo. Kalma lang ang sinabi ko sa mga tao, dasal lang. Mahal ka ng Pilipino, mahal ka namin. Nandito lang kami sa gate, sir, ng Villamor (We are just here if you need anything. I told the people to just stay calm and pray for you. The Filipino people love you, we love you. We are here at the gate of Villamor Airbase),” Go said in the Visayan dialect while talking to Duterte. – With Jocelyn Montemayor and Wendell Vigilia
