Duterte's plane takes off hours after he was served ICC warrant

The plane carrying former President Rodrigo Duterte has taken off hours after he was served a warrant of arrest from the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

The aircraft RP-C5219 took off at 11:03 p.m.

Supporters chanting "Duterte! Duterte!" and anti-riot policemen were in the vicinity of the Villamor Air Base before the airplane left.

Atty. Martin Delgra said Duterte boarded the plane around 9 p.m. on Tuesday. He was accompanied by former Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, a nurse, and a personal assistant.

Delgra, a lawyer for the former president, said they were not allowed to go near the plane.

In a DzBB report, the former president boarded the bus before going to the plane.  He was accompanied by former executive secretary Salvador Medialdea, the report added.

Duterte has been under the custody of authorities at the Villamor Airbase in Pasay City after he was issued an arrest warrant by the International Police after he arrived from Hong Kong.

In a livestream of General Filmore Bondilles Escobal, Duterte was seen boarding a private jet.

Before his flight to the Netherlands, Duterte addressed his arrest via an Instagram live of her daughter Kitty Duterte.

The former chief executive reiterated that he wanted to be prosecuted in his home country.

“Ako pag nagkasala, you prosecute me in Philippine courts, with the Philippine judge, the Filipino prosecutor, and magpakulong ako sa bayan ko kung sakali,” he said.

He also reiterated that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has no right to prosecute him concerning the extrajudicial killings during his administration after the Philippines withdrew from the Rome Statute in 2018.

“The fact that we are already not a member, dapat intindihan ng mga abugado ‘yan,” Duterte added.

Duterte pulled the Philippines out of the Hague-based ICC's Rome Statute in 2018, with the withdrawal taking effect in 2019, after the tribunal began a preliminary probe into his administration's drug war.

But a Supreme Court ruling in 2021 said that the Philippines has the obligation to cooperate with the ICC despite its withdrawal from the Rome Statute, noting that the exit does not affect criminal proceedings pertaining to acts that occurred when a country was still a state party.

The ICC chamber said that it had reasonable grounds to believe that murders were committed in the cases of killings of at least 19 alleged drug pushers or thieves by DDS members in or around Davao City and those of at least 24 alleged criminals by Philippine authorities.—Vince Angelo Ferreras/Mariel Celine Serquina/Sherylin Untalan/NB, GMA Integrated News