The go to had been marketed for weeks. Former President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines was going to a rally in Hong Kong through the second weekend in March. However as quickly because it started, the journey took on a tantalizing aspect of intrigue: Was he ever coming again?
To many Filipinos, it appeared that Mr. Duterte was making an attempt to outrun justice. The Worldwide Prison Courtroom, a sudden swirl of hypothesis within the Philippines posited, was about to hunt his arrest, years after it began investigating the deadly antidrug campaign he had overseen as president and as mayor of Davao. By being in Hong Kong, the speculation went, Mr. Duterte would stay free as a result of China isn’t a member of the court docket.
Quickly after Mr. Duterte, 79, landed in Hong Kong on March 7, the I.C.C. issued a sealed warrant for him. However wind of the transfer reached him.
Over that weekend in Hong Kong, his entourage — which included his associate, Honeylet Avanceña, and daughter Sara Duterte, the present vice chairman — debated whether or not to remain in Chinese language territory or return dwelling, in response to two Philippine officers and a former lawmaker who spoke on the document and cited Philippines intelligence.
Salvador Panelo, his lawyer, disputed that account, saying Mr. Duterte had not even mentioned searching for asylum in China. “Why would Duterte escape?” he mentioned. “At his age, he now not cares about what will occur to him.”
In public, Mr. Duterte caught to his ordinary bluster. On the rally that Sunday, he advised a throng of principally Filipino ladies that if being arrested by the I.C.C. was his destiny in life, he would settle for it. His allies made pronouncements that he can be again within the Philippines that Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.
It was a bluff.
Mr. Duterte’s group had booked 5 flights again to Manila that day to obfuscate their precise arrival. And there was a non-public jet ready on the airport for Mr. Duterte, presumably to take him on to his stronghold of Davao within the south, mentioned Police Maj. Gen. Nicolas Torre III and Antonio Trillanes, a former senator who filed a complaint against Mr. Duterte with the I.C.C. in 2017. (Mr. Panelo, Mr. Duterte’s lawyer, denied this.)
Mr. Duterte landed round 9:30 a.m., hours earlier than his camp had telegraphed. However he was detained quickly after and, by the tip of the day, shipped off to The Hague, the place he’s awaiting trial.
This account of that day, a lot of it beforehand unreported, relies on recollections from Common Torre, Mr. Trillanes and Inside Secretary Jonvic Remulla, in addition to public statements from Mr. Duterte and interviews with three of his allies.
It was maybe essentially the most high-profile arrest for the I.C.C. For the family of the tens of 1000’s of victims of Mr. Duterte’s drug warfare, it was, lastly, a tangible step toward justice. And it’s prone to outline the presidency of the present chief, Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. Hundreds of protesters have since accused Mr. Marcos of persecuting Mr. Duterte, his predecessor and onetime ally.
The gravity of the day appeared clear to Mr. Marcos. “There is no such thing as a purpose to be pleased,” Mr. Marcos advised Mr. Remulla. “We shouldn’t have fun.”
An 80-Web page Plan
Mr. Marcos was elected president in 2022, succeeding Mr. Duterte. He rose to energy after forming an alliance with Sara Duterte, who received the race for vice chairman. Initially, he mentioned that he wouldn’t cooperate with the I.C.C.’s investigation of Mr. Duterte’s drug warfare as a result of his predecessor had withdrawn the Philippines from the court docket.
However relations between Mr. Marcos and Ms. Duterte soured quickly, and he modified course on the I.C.C. In 2024, the Philippine Congress began an inquiry into the previous president’s warfare on medication. However Mr. Duterte nonetheless appeared untouchable, years after he first condoned thousands of summary executions.
Justice, many Filipinos hoped, would come from abroad. Mr. Marcos’s authorities was additionally anticipating the I.C.C. to hunt Mr. Duterte’s arrest. The Philippine police had ready a secret 80-page plan known as “Operation Pursuit” on the right way to detain Mr. Duterte. It included situations of arresting him in Manila or Davao, in response to a duplicate that was considered by The New York Occasions.
It additionally had maps of properties belonging to Mr. Duterte, his associate and his allies, with arrows labeling the close by streets.
In The Hague, I.C.C. prosecutors applied for a warrant for Mr. Duterte on Feb. 10, accusing him of crimes in opposition to humanity. It was issued practically four weeks later and the Philippine authorities acquired it through Interpol early on March 11. That cleared the way in which for Mr. Duterte’s detention as a result of the Philippines was nonetheless a member of Interpol.
At about 9.30 a.m., Mr. Duterte landed in Manila on Cathay Pacific flight 907. Mr. Duterte, who usually makes use of a cane, was ready for his wheelchair when an official boarded the airplane and advised him that he can be arrested on an Interpol warrant on behalf of the I.C.C.
“You would need to kill me first, if you’re going to ally with white foreigners,” he told the official.
‘My Kids Will Go After You’
However Mr. Duterte didn’t supply a lot resistance and was despatched on a bus with a police escort to Villamor Air Base close to the airport. There he waited within the presidential lounge the place he had as soon as greeted dignitaries together with former Secretary of State Michael Pompeo.
Mr. Duterte’s attorneys tried to delay the studying of his rights in order that he wouldn’t be taken into custody, and his spouse refused for Mr. Duterte to get a checkup by a authorities physician, in response to Common Torre.
After the police officer formally arrested him, Mr. Duterte mentioned: “You’ll retire at some point, and my kids will go after you.”
About 90 minutes after Mr. Duterte had landed in Manila, Mr. Marcos’s workplace in Malacañang Palace introduced the arrest.
However Mr. Duterte continued to argue that the I.C.C. had no jurisdiction within the Philippines.
“You must prosecute me within the Philippine courts, with a Filipino decide and a Filipino prosecutor,” Mr. Duterte advised Common Torre and different law enforcement officials, in response to a video shared by his daughter Veronica Duterte. “You recognize that is politics.”
The federal government was racing to fly Mr. Duterte on a chartered flight to the Netherlands to keep away from any potential civil unrest.
Mr. Duterte’s allies tried to get the Supreme Courtroom to intervene, arguing that his detention was unlawful and unconstitutional. Their request was filed three minutes earlier than the court docket closed for the day.
Worldwide Obligations
To outsiders, Mr. Duterte’s destiny appeared unclear because the hours ticked by. Contained in the lounge, Mr. Duterte sat on the presidential chair, the identical one which Mr. Marcos makes use of now, and had rice and barbecued meat with a Coca-Cola.
Within the meantime, the federal government was caught up in a bureaucratic nightmare. Officers wanted to safe permission from different nations so the chartered airplane might fly of their airspace en path to The Hague. Vietnam, the primary nation on their checklist, took three hours to reply. One other delay got here as a result of officers in Oman and the United Arab Emirates had shortened their working hours for Ramadan.
Mr. Duterte then requested to see Sara Duterte, the vice chairman, a request the authorities rejected. At round 9.40 p.m., Ms. Duterte turned up on the base, however guards turned her away. She advised reporters there that her father’s arrest was a “state kidnapping.”
Inside, Common Torre requested Mr. Duterte to maneuver towards the airplane. However Salvador Medialdea, Mr. Duterte’s former government secretary, stepped between the 2 males, making an attempt to bodily protect the previous president. Common Torre then arrested Mr. Medialdea for obstruction of justice, handcuffing him personally, and despatched him to the airplane.
Common Torre then turned to Mr. Duterte to say: “It’s time. If I’ve to bodily carry you to the jet, I might.”
Mr. Duterte complied. His daughter Veronica and his associate, Ms. Avanceña have been in tears. Mr. Duterte and Ms. Avanceña hugged. At 11:03 p.m., he was within the air, accompanied by a retinue that included two medical doctors, a nurse, three law enforcement officials and Mr. Medialdea.
About quarter-hour later, Mr. Marcos addressed the nation from Malacañang Palace on the banks of the Pasig River. He rejected the notion that Mr. Duterte’s arrest was political, saying, “That is what the worldwide neighborhood expects of us because the chief of a democratic nation that’s a part of the neighborhood of countries.”
After his speech, Mr. Marcos boarded his bulletproof boat to move again to his residence. The river was calm, and, behind him, the lights of the palace have been twinkling.
Aie Balagtas See contributed reporting.
