Enrile: Philippine gov't not to blame for Duterte's legal woes

The Philippine government is not to blame for former President Rodrigo Duterte's "current legal problem," Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile said on Monday.

Enrile issued the statement hours after the former president was placed under arrest due to a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

''The current legal problem of former President Rodrigo R. Duterte is not caused by Philippine laws. His legal problem is caused by laws enforceable by the International Criminal Court (ICC). It is not correct to blame the Philippine government for the current legal problem of ex-PRRD,'' Enrile said.

''His lawyers should endeavor to secure a copy of the ICC charges against him so that they will know why he was ordered to be arrested by the ICC. Philippine domestic laws have nothing to do with his current legal problem,'' he added.

Former presidential legal counsel Atty. Salvador Panelo branded the arrest as unlawful.

The former Duterte spokesman also said this government action would make the arresting team as well as the public officials ordering the arrest criminally liable.

Following the arrest of the former president, Panelo also claimed that ''not only are we headed to a dictatorship, it would appear now that we have one.'' He mentioned that lawyers of Duterte were prohibited from entering the Villamor Air Base where the latter was brought.

The ICC has been investigating Duterte and other top officials of his administration for crimes against humanity over the alleged systematic drug war deaths in police operations.

These deaths reached around 6,000 based on police records, but human rights groups contend that the deaths were as much as 30,000, including vigilante killings.

Duterte had said he is ready to face the warrant of arrest issued by the ICC for his controversial war against illegal drugs, stressing that he would face it directly as a lawyer and would not escape in another country. –NB, GMA Integrated News