MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has yet to issue a directive to the Philippine Embassy in The Hague, Netherlands after the arrest of Former President Rodrigo Duterte by police on Tuesday, following an order from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in connection to crimes against humanity filed against him.
In the sidelines after a meeting with Slovenian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon in Manila, DFA Secretary Enrique Manalo told reporters that the Department has to “see how the event would unfold,” adding that it is hard to speculate at this time.
When asked what would be the DFA’s role on the matter, Manalo declined to comment and mentioned that his office has not had any contact with the ICC since Manila withdrew its membership from the Rome Statute in 2019.
Manalo also mentioned that it is best to refer to relevant government agencies, such as the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Philippine National Police (PNP), and the Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding the former president’s arrest.
“The best is to ask the agencies who are directly involved in this issue. We defer to them on this issue. I’m not familiar with the procedure because we are no longer a member of the ICC,” he said.
Duterte was arrested after arriving from Hong Kong and was taken into police custody after the ICC warrant was served.
From the airport, the 79-year-old Duterte was taken to Villamor Airbase and was examined by government doctors.
It is still not clear if he will be flown directly to the ICC headquarters in The Hague to face charges filed against him.
The ICC started its probe on the massive drug killings as possible crimes against humanity under Duterte from November 2011 when he was still mayor of Davao City up to March 16, 2019 before Manila withdrew its membership to the Rome Statute.
