MANILA – The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague said Friday ex-Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte’s “confirmation of charges” hearing would proceed even after the former president rejected its jurisdiction over him.
Duterte, 80, last week told the court he was waiving his right to the February 23 to 27 hearing. Friday’s acceptance of Duterte’s waiver meant the high-profile legal proceedings against him would move forward in his absence.
ICC prosecutors had earlier argued against Duterte’s request, stressing that there was no “reasonable cause” that would allow him to skip the court date.
But the three-judge panel accepted Duterte’s filing, noting that the court was satisfied that the ex-Philippine leader’s war on drugs during his term from 2016-2022 had led to thousands of extrajudicial deaths. The judges took note that the consequences of Duterte’s waiver were “thoroughly explained” to him by his lawyer.
In his earlier filing with the court, Duterte said he was frail and had “accepted the fact that I could die in prison.”
“I do not recognize the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court over my person,” Duterte told the court, arguing that he was “forcibly pushed into a jet and renditioned” to The Hague in violation of the country’s sovereignty.
“I do not wish to attend legal proceedings that I will forget within minutes,” he told the court, even as he issued a blanket denial for the charges against him
“The claim that I oversaw a policy of extrajudicial killings is an outrageous lie,” Duterte said. “These claims have been peddled by political opponents for many years and, as my nation knows, they are based on the word of individuals whose credibility has been thoroughly discredited.”
The ICC’s decision on Friday came just days after the ex-president’s popular daughter, Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte, announced she would seek the presidency in 2028, following in the shadow of her father.
Sara Duterte, in her public address, claimed that she initially did not think of the highest of the land but that she was answering “God’s plan”, in what seemed to be an effort to appeal to the majority Catholic Philippines’ religiosity.
She said she had lost faith in President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., a candidate she had supported and propped up in 2022, until they had a bitter falling-out last year. In a deft political move, Marcos in March last year handed her father, Rodrigo, to international police who escorted him to the ICC, where he is facing charges of “crimes against humanity” in relation to his war on drugs.
Sara Duterte was President Marcos’ running mate in the 2022 polls. The political marriage didn’t last long, and Sara Duterte was subsequently impeached by Congress for corruption, though her trial has been delayed. Apart from irregularities, she has also been accused of plotting to assassinate Marcos and his wife.
In announcing her plan to seek the presidency, Sara Duterte begged forgiveness from the Filipino electorate and said she was offering her “life, my strength and my future in the service of our nation.”
Marcos’ sister, Imee Marcos, who is a senator and a known ally of Sara Duterte, openly backed the vice president. “She personifies the opposite of this administration, and she would give direction to a rudderless country,” Imee Marcos said. “She is the solution.”
But Leila de Lima, a member of the House of Representatives who was falsely accused by Rodrigo Duterte’s administration of drug charges and spent years in jail, said she was not surprised.
“It is her right to declare (candidacy) even this early,” de Lima told reporters. “In the same way that it is the right of every Filipino to demand accountability from her for serious allegations of corruption against her.”
“It would be better for her to answer these allegations first before her ambition of becoming the president of the country,” de Lima said.
Jason Gutierrez was head of Philippine news at BenarNews, an online news service affiliated with Radio Free Asia (RFA), a Washington-based news organization that covered many under-reported countries in the region. A veteran foreign correspondent, he has also worked with The New York Times and Agence France-Presse (AFP).