Philippines says it would be obliged to comply if Interpol seeks ex-president Duterte's arrest

The Philippine government said on Wednesday it would not stand in the way if former President Rodrigo Duterte wants to surrender to the International Criminal Court (ICC), and would be obliged to comply if his arrest was sought over his war on drugs.

During a congressional hearing on Wednesday into the bloody crackdown on narcotics that killed thousands of Filipinos, the mercurial Duterte said he was not scared of the ICC and told it to “hurry up” on its investigation into his possible crimes against humanity.

The office of the current president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, issued a statement hours later indicating it would be willing to consider handing Duterte over if an Interpol request was made.

“The government will feel obliged to consider the red notice as a request to be honored, in which case the domestic law enforcement agencies shall be bound to accord full cooperation,” the president’s executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said.

The statement was significant, marking the first time the Philippine government has suggested it would cooperate with the ICC, which last year cleared the way for an investigation into the bloody campaign that defined Duterte’s 2016-2022 presidency.

Duterte when president unilaterally withdrew the Philippines from the ICC in March 2019 after it opened a preliminary examination of the killings. The court has said its prosecutors have jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed before the withdrawal.

In the statement, Bersamin said the government would neither object nor block Duterte if he wished to surrender.

Duterte defiant

Duterte remained defiant during the hearing as he defended his drugs crackdown, which was a key plank of his election campaign, during which he had promised thousands would be killed.

“ICC does not scare me a bit. They can come here anytime. I suppose that you would want to maybe make it easy for them to visit and start the investigation. I would welcome that,” Duterte said.

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“I have nothing to hide. What I did, I did it for my country and for the young people. No excuses. No apologies. If I go to hell, so be it.”

The 79-year old said he was getting impatient, and asked ICC to “hurry up” and “come here and start the investigation tomorrow.”

According to police data, more than 6,200 people died in anti-drug operations under Duterte, during which police typically said they had killed suspects in self-defense.

But human rights groups believe the real toll to be far greater, with thousands more users and small-time peddlers killed in mysterious circumstances by unknown assailants.

“I assume full responsibility for whatever happened in the actions taken by law enforcement agencies of this country to... stop the serious problem of drugs affecting our people,” Duterte said.