Former Philippines president Duterte arrested in Manila for crimes against humanity

Arrest follows years of investigation into extrajudicial killings in drug crackdown

Rodrigo Duterte, 79, was arrested after landing at Manila's international airport following a trip to Hong Kong. AFP

Former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte was arrested on Tuesday in Manila by police acting on an International Criminal Court warrant over crimes against humanity related to his deadly war on drugs.

Mr Duterte, 79, faces a charge of “the crime against humanity of murder”, according to the ICC, for a crackdown in which rights groups estimate tens of thousands of mostly poor men were killed by officers and vigilantes, often without proof they were linked to drugs.

“Early in the morning, Interpol Manila received the official copy of the warrant of the arrest from the ICC,” the Philippine presidential palace said. “As of now, he is under the custody of authorities.” It added that “the former president and his group are in good health and are being checked by government doctors”.

Mr Duterte was arrested after landing at Manila's international airport following a brief trip to Hong Kong. Speaking to thousands of overseas Filipino workers there on Sunday, Mr Duterte criticised the investigation but said he would “accept it” if an arrest was to be his fate.

The Philippines quit the ICC in 2019 on Mr Duterte's instructions, but the tribunal maintained it had jurisdiction over killings before the pullout, as well as killings in the southern city of Davao when Mr Duterte was mayor there, years before he became president in 2016.

Anti-riot police deployed at the gates of a military airbase where former President Rodrigo Duterte is allegedly being detained in Manila. EPA

It launched a formal inquiry in September 2021, only to suspend it two months later after Manila said it was re-examining several hundred cases of drug operations that led to deaths at the hands of police, hitmen and vigilantes.

The case resumed in July 2023 after a five-judge panel rejected the Philippines' objection that the court lacked jurisdiction. Since then, the government of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who succeeded Mr Duterte in 2022, has on numerous instances said it would not co-operate with the investigation.

But undersecretary of the Presidential Communications Office, Claire Castro, on Sunday said that if Interpol would “ask the necessary assistance from the government, it is obliged to follow”.

Mr Duterte is still hugely popular among many in the Philippines who supported his quick-fix solutions to crime, and he remains a potent political force. He is running to reclaim his job as mayor of his stronghold Davao in the May midterm election.

Charges have been filed locally in a handful of cases related to drug operations that led to deaths, but only nine police officers have been convicted for slaying alleged drug suspects.

A self-professed killer, Mr Duterte told officers to fatally shoot narcotics suspects if their lives were at risk and insisted the crackdown saved families and prevented the Philippines from turning into a “narco-politics state”.

At the opening of a Philippine Senate investigation into the drug war in October, Mr Duterte said he offered “no apologies, no excuses” for his actions. “I did what I had to do, and whether or not you believe it or not, I did it for my country,” he said.