Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has been arrested by the International Criminal Court, accused of crimes against humanity during his deadly war on drugs. Police arrested him after he landed in Manila after a flight from Hong Kong.
Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has been arrested by the International Criminal Court, accused of crimes against humanity during his deadly war on drugs. Police arrested him after he landed in Manila after a flight from Hong Kong.
Duterte is now on a plane headed to the Hague to face charges relating to the deadly crackdowns, in which tens of thousands of people were killed. We spoke to Richard Heydarian, Senior Lecturer at the University of the Philippines and author of ‘The Rise of Duterte’. We began by asking him how much of a bombshell the news of Duterte’s arrest was.I think bombshell is an understatement. This is highly consequential on multiple levels. I think first of all, it’s good news for a rules-based international order, especially in an era of Trump, where every single global institution is coming under attack.Last time I checked, the ICC had warrants of arrest against a couple of people, including Putin and Netanyahu, leaders in Taliban, among others. I’m not sure practically speaking we’re looking at any trial anytime soon for those individuals. So to have someone with the profile and notoriety of Duterte likely within their jurisdiction in the coming hours or days, and hopefully a trial within the coming months, probably three months from now or so, that would be a big win for ICC and I think ICC really needs this.What is fascinating about this is that Duterte’s daughter is the current vice president. He endorsed the current president who now seems to have turned on him. What’s happening?This is classic Game of Thrones, right? Loyalties shifting all the time, and one thing you know, you’re being stabbed from the front or from the back. Well, the reality is that the Dutertes were the cause of the trouble. They could have actually cruised their way all the way to 2028 with Sara Duterte, the current vice president, even potentially getting Marcos’ support to be his successor. But no, the Dutertes were not willing to wait. They were entitled. They pushed the envelope. They insulted the president. They called him a cocaine addict. They incited sedition, they called for even coup d ‘etat, separation of their hometown. My goodness, what else? And then at some point, I thinkCiaran Jenkins: There were thousands of people killed in these supposedly extrajudicial killings. But at the same time, when Duterte left office, he was wildly popular, wasn’t he? So for this to happen to somebody who still commands that much support, how explosive could that be now in the Philippines?I think Duterte is popular, but not as popular as his survey suggested, when he had that fear factor. In fact, his daughter only has a net 20 plus approval rating. So that means actually they’re not invincible. We have to also watch what will happen next. What will the daughter do? What will the other surrogates of Duterte do, who are running for the senate? Will they be effective in coming up with a kind of a counter narrative and portray themselves as the victims of a witch hunt. This is just round one in a new chapter in Philippine politics.
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