A temporary restraining order (TRO) concerning former President Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest and departure to the International Criminal Court (ICC) has not been issued, the Supreme Court (SC) clarified.
In a statement on Wednesday, March 12, the SC Spokesperson Camille Sue Mae Ting noted that the “Very Urgent Manifestation with Reiterative Prayer for the Issuance of a TRO and/or Writ of Preliminary Injunction” was electronically received at 11:17 PM on Tuesday.
“After a virtual deliberation on the 94-page petition, the SC found that the petitioners failed to establish a clear and unmistakable right for the immediate issuance of a TRO,” Ting noted in the statement.
Despite this, the SC directed its respondents to comment on the petition with prayer for TRO and/or writ of preliminary injunction within a non-extendable period of 10 days from notice.
On Tuesday, Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa and former president Duterte filed a petition for certiorari and the prohibition with prayer for the issuance of a TRO and/or writ of preliminary prohibitory and mandatory injunction, against several respondents from the government.
The petition sought to question Duterte’s arrest through the ICC’s warrant.
Subsequently, two petitions for the writ of habeas corpus for Duterte were also filed, separately, by Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte and the former's youngest child, Veronica “Kitty” Duterte.
The former president boarded the plane late Tuesday for a plane en route to the Hague, Netherlands. He will be facing a case concerning the crimes against humanity before the ICC.
