STORY: :: An analyst explains that there are several firsts with the ICC arrest of the Philippines’ Duterte
:: March 12, 2025
:: The Hague, Netherlands
:: Iva Vukusic, Assistant Professor of International History, Utrecht University
:: “This is the first case I think that is going to deal with a situation that is not from sort of war or election-related violence. This is basically about extra-judicial killings within the so-called drug war. So it’s basically about a president ordering its forces to sort of clean up the streets from alleged narco traffickers, which led to thousands and thousands of civilian deaths. So I think it’s also in that sense special and of course is the first case that relates to Asia that is leading to a trial. So in many ways it’s really a first.”
:: “I assume there’s going to be legal challenges about him being transferred because, of course, the Philippines left the ICC, I think, in 2019. So I can imagine that’s going to be the first sort of hurdle, but then it’s going to be months and months of pre-trial, you know, sort of processes. So I don’t imagine that we’re going to see a trial actually start before probably something like next year.”
:: Gilbert Andres, Lawyer for the victim’s families
:: “Actually, our clients, the victim survivors, they’re very thankful to God because they say this is really an answered prayer. They did not really expect that justice can still be served to a powerful man such as Rodrigo Duterte. So they’re very thankful.”
Duterte, 79, who led the Philippines from 2016 to 2022, was arrested in Manila in a probe into alleged crimes against humanity during an anti-drugs crackdown that killed thousands.
The ICC’s warrant for his arrest says that as president, Duterte created, funded and armed “death squads” in his war on drugs that carried out murders of purported drug users and dealers.
About 20 anti-Duterte protesters gathered on Wednesday outside the ICC with banners and a mask depicting him as a vampire. A handful of pro-Duterte protesters also gathered at the court building in The Hague.
The war on drugs was the signature campaign platform that swept the mercurial Duterte to power in 2016. During his six years in office, 6,200 suspects were killed during anti-drug operations, by the police’s count.
