Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte takes oath during a senate inquiry on the so-called war on drugs during his administration at the Philippine Senate, on Oct. 28, 2024, in Manila, Philippines.
Aaron Favila/AP
Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested in Manilla on Tuesday after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for alleged crimes against humanity during his deadly crackdown on drugs.
The 79-year-old was detained shortly after landing at Manilla’s international airport on a flight from Hong Kong. The Philippine government says he remains in police custody.
Duterte has been investigated by the ICC since 2018 for his bloody “war on drugs” during his administration. Over 6,000 people were killed in the crackdown according to police data, although rights groups claim the actual death toll could be much higher.
The former president, who led the Philippines from 2016 to 2022, has shown no remorse for his brutal anti-drugs campaign. Last October, he told a Philippine Senate hearing that he offered “no apologies, no excuses” for his policies.
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Shortly after the arrest on Tuesday, Veronica Duterte, one of the former president’s daughters, posted a video on Instagram showing her father questioning his detention. “What is the law and what is the crime that I committed?” he said.
Duterte’s former lawyer and presidential spokesperson, Salvador Panelo, has criticized the former president’s arrest, telling local reporters that it was “unlawful”, given that the Philippines withdrew from the ICC in 2019.
Duterte swept to power in 2016 with a key policy pledge to stamp out illegal drugs in the country.
As mayor of the southern city of Davao, Duterte earned a fierce reputation for his no-nonsense approach to tackling crime. He promised to replicate this on the national stage.
In a 2020 report, the United Nations said that the crackdown largely targeted young men in poor and urban areas, many who were gunned down in the street.
Police have denied these allegations, with Duterte claiming that officers were only authorized to kill in self-defense.
Footage of the former strongman leader being accompanied through Manilla airport by police after his arrest has caused a huge shock in the Philippines.
“The reaction is deeply polarized,” Cleve Arguelles, a political scientist in the Philippines, told NPR.
While Duterte’s arrest is a moment of vindication for those who have campaigned for the victims of the anti-drugs crackdown, Arguelles says the former president still maintains plenty of support.
“Duterte’s loyalists and political allies are mobilizing in defense of their leader, framing this as foreign interference and political persecution,” Arguelles said.
Duterte’s detention comes at a significant time in Philippine politics, with voters heading to the polls in May for the country’s midterm elections.
One of the key talking points of the vote was set to be the impeachment of the former president’s other daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, for threatening to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr if she herself were killed in politically motivated violence.
However, according to Arguelles, Duterte’s arrest could now “reshape the political landscape” ahead of May’s vote.
“How the next weeks will play out will be crucial in determining whether the arrest will re-ignite popular support for political change and reform, or merely strengthen Duterte’s grip on the national imagination,” Arguelles said.
