Ex-Philippine leader in The Hague after drug war arrest

A plane carrying former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte has arrived in the Netherlands where he is to face charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court (ICC) over his deadly “war on drugs”.

Duterte was arrested at Manila airport on Tuesday and within hours was on a chartered jet which flew via Dubai to The Hague, where the ICC sits.

The 79-year-old could become the first Asian former head of state to go on trial at the ICC.

Duterte, who contested his extradition, led the Philippines from 2016 to 2022 and presided over a violent “war on drugs” that saw thousands of small-time drug dealers, users and others killed without trial.

The Gulfstream G550 landed in Dubai for a stopover early on Wednesday and its expected departure was delayed for several hours while Duterte received medical checks, Reuters news agency reports.

Once it had landed in Rotterdam, the ICC confirmed that Duterte was on board.

Earlier, the ICC said it would take custody of Duterte and schedule a hearing for his initial appearance before the court.

Duterte’s main political rival, current President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, was instrumental in handing him over. Minutes after Duterte left Philippines airspace, Marcos gave a televised address saying the country was fulfilling its legal obligation.

“This is what the international community expects of us,” Marcos said.

The Duterte and Marcos families are the Philippines’ most powerful political dynasties. They joined forces to sweep the country’s last national election in 2022, but have fallen out in recent months as they pursued separate agendas.

Duterte being handed to the ICC is the latest twist in a political feud that has unfolded spectacularly in the public view.

The Duterte and Marcos families formed a formidable alliance in the 2022 elections. Against the elder Duterte’s wishes, his daughter Sara ran as Marcos Jr’s vice-president instead of seeking her father’s post.

Marcos initially refused to co-operate with the ICC investigation, but as his relationship with the Duterte family deteriorated, he changed his stance.

Vice-President Duterte said her father’s arrest amounted to “kidnapping”, claiming it violated Philippine sovereignty. She left Manila for the Netherlands on Wednesday, according to her office.

Rodrigo Duterte previously insisted that the ICC has no jurisdiction over the Philippines, since he pulled the country out of the tribunal in 2019, three years after it took note of the drug war’s rising death toll.

But according to the Rome Statute that is the basis for the ICC, the court maintains jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed before a nation leaves the tribunal.

The ICC investigation covers 2011-2019, which includes the period when Duterte was mayor of Davao, a sprawling metropolis in the country’s south, where his family has held power for decades.

Complaints filed against Duterte at the ICC allege that he kept a “death squad” of bounty hunters to go after drug suspects in Davao, and later replicated this model on a national scale when he was elected president.

Human Rights Watch called Duterte’s arrest a “critical step for accountability in the Philippines”.

Duterte built a reputation for Davao as one of the Philippines’ safest cities, and cultivated the image of a tough-talking, anti-establishment man of the masses to pull off a dark horse win in the 2016 presidential elections.

Polls show he is the most popular Philippines president since the restoration of democracy in 1986.

His supporters have threatened to hold large rallies to protest against his arrest. They had asked the Supreme Court to issue a restraining order against the ICC warrant – but the court did not act before the former president was flown out on Tuesday.

On social media, where the Dutertes maintain a strong following, the reaction was mixed.

Many praised the ICC for delivering justice for those who died in the drug war, while others defended Duterte’s legacy, with some calling for widespread rallies.

“Justice served,” read a top-liked comment on TikTok.

“Philippines was safe during Duterte’s time,” another TikTok user wrote, saying the former leader built bridges, roads and other infrastructure. “He was the best president.”

Additional reporting by Fan Wang