Philippines Senate launches investigation into Duterte’s ICC arrest

The Philippines Senate has announced it will probe the arrest and handover of former President Rodrigo Duterte to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The “urgent investigation” was declared by Senator Imee Marcos, sister of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, on Monday. The detainment and deportation of Duterte last week has roiled the country’s political scene before midterm elections in May.

“It is imperative to establish whether due process was followed and to ensure that his legal rights were not just upheld but protected,” said Senator Marcos, who heads the Senate’s foreign relations committee.

“Our sovereignty and legal processes must remain paramount,” she said, acknowledging that the arrest “has deeply divided the nation”.

The Senate has set a public hearing for Thursday and invited police and other government officials to give evidence.

Duterte is the first Asian former head of state charged by the ICC. He stands accused of crimes against humanity, including murder, in connection with his so-called “war on drugs” that killed thousands of people while he was in office from 2016 to 2022.

The Marcos and Duterte families embarked on a political alliance in 2022, which propelled Marcos Jr to the presidency while Duterte’s daughter Sara became vice president.

However, the families have since had a spectacular falling out.

The Duterte family has called for the removal of the president. Sara Duterte has been impeached on charges that include alleged corruption and an assassination plot against Marcos Jr.

In one of the recent campaign attacks before the midterm elections, former President Duterte himself had suggested killing senators in a bomb blast.

Duterte was arrested on March 11 at Manila airport on the orders of Marcos Jr and turned over to the ICC. The Philippines, which the former president withdrew from membership of The Hague-based court in 2019, said the move was in compliance with a request made by Interpol.

Supporters of Duterte have staged a series of protests across the country, calling for his release and return to the country.

Throughout the infighting, Senator Imee Marcos has tracked a course largely independent of her brother, although she is running for re-election under the administration ticket for the midterm elections.

Hours after the arrest, she had challenged the wisdom of the arrest of “poor President Duterte”, warning, “This can only lead to trouble.”

Members of the Duterte family had threatened in recent months to withhold their support for her re-election, and polls currently suggest she could lose her Senate seat in the voting on May 12.