Philippines says it will cooperate if ICC seeks Duterte's custody over drug killings

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government said Wednesday its law enforcement agencies will be bound to cooperate if the International Criminal Court seeks the custody of former President Rodrigo Duterte as part of an investigation into thousands of deaths during his crackdown on illegal drugs.

The Hague-based court has been investigating the widespread killings that took place while Duterte was mayor of the southern Philippine city of Davao and later as president from 2016 to 2020, as a possible crime against humanity.

Human rights groups estimate the deaths could exceed 20,000 during Duterte’s presidency alone. The bloody campaign alarmed Western governments and led to complaints that sparked the investigation by the ICC, a court of last resort for crimes that countries are unwilling or unable to prosecute themselves.

Under intense grilling in a televised congressional inquiry Wednesday, the brash-speaking Duterte gave conflicting statements whether he would submit himself to the global court for investigation.

“The ICC does not scare me a bit. They can come here anytime,” Duterte told members of the House of Representatives conducting the inquiry. “I’m asking the ICC to hurry up and come here and start the investigation tomorrow.”

“This issue has been hanging for many years and I may already die,” the 79-year-old said. “If I’m found guilty, I can go to prison and rot there for all time.”

Duterte, however, said later that he would physically kick any ICC investigator who would face him.

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, the most senior Cabinet member, said if Duterte “desires to surrender himself to the jurisdiction of the ICC, the government will neither object to it nor move to block the fulfillment of his desire."

“But if the ICC refers the process to Interpol, which may then transmit a red notice to the Philippine authorities, the government will feel obliged to consider the red notice as a request to be honored,” Bersamin said. “In which case, the domestic law enforcement agencies shall be bound to accord full cooperation to the Interpol pursuant to established protocols.”

A red notice flags law enforcement worldwide to locate and temporarily arrest a person pending extradition or surrender.

Duterte withdrew the Philippines from ICC in 2019 in a move activists said was an attempt to evade accountability and prevent an international probe into the drug killings. However, the ICC still has jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed when the country was still a member state of the court.

Duterte’s successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., has said his administration has no plan to rejoin the ICC.

During the congressional inquiry, Duterte renewed a vague pledge under oath that he would take full responsibility for the actions — whether “right or wrong” — of police officers who enforced his anti-drugs crackdown when he was in power.

Duterte denied any involvement when confronted with specific details of the killings. He claimed that he once pushed a suspected criminal out of a helicopter as punishment but later walked it back, saying it was a “hyperbole” not to be taken literally.