Alan Cayetano looks for due process in Duterte arrest, De Lima cites PH law

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano has questioned former President Rodrigo Duterte being flown to the International Criminal Court in The Hague citing what he called a lack of due process and a chance to exhaust legal remedies in the country.

Cayetano's remarks prompted former Senator Leila De Lima to cite the Philippines' which she said recognized the ICC's jurisdiction over crimes against international humanitarian law, genocide, and other crimes against humanity.

“The enemies of President Duterte, from legitimate human rights lawyers, former Senator de Lima, those from the Philippine left groups, they are a lot, basically rejoicing. And I respect their rights, they fought for their human rights," Cayetano said.

"But isn't human rights [a matter of] due process?" he added.

Cayetano was Duterte's running mate in the 2022 elections and was the former president's first secretary of foreign affairs.

He said no Philippine court ordered Duterte's arrest even with the ICC warrant and the Miranda rights being read to the former president.

"What happened to human rights advocates? No wonder, si Kitty, sabi niya this is the plane na kinidnap yung tatay ko (this is the plane that abducted my father),” Cayetano said.

De Lima, one of the first to investigate the killings blamed on the Davao Death Squad when she was the chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights, said Republic Act No. 9851 gave the Philippine government the option to surrender Duterte to the ICC even without the nod of a court.

"RA 9851 says that the Philippine government has the option to surrender Duterte to the ICC without any judicial approval," De Lima said.

"Kung may problema ka sa batas na ito, Alan Peter, ipadeklara mong unconstitutional sa Korte Suprema. Until that time, stop lecturing and whining to us," she added.

(If you have a problem with this law, Alan Peter, ask the Supreme Court to declare it unconstitutional.)

In a ruling in March 2021, the Supreme Court said the Philippines had the obligation to cooperate with the ICC despite its withdrawal from the Rome Statute in 1999.

“Consequently, liability for the alleged summary killings and other atrocities committed in the course of the war on drugs is not nullified or negated here. The Philippines remained covered and bound by the Rome Statute until March 17, 2019,” the SC said.

Duterte, who is turning 80 years old on March 28, has since been detained at The Hague Penitentiary Institution or the Scheveningen Prison where he is set to be held while awaiting trial by the ICC. 

The ICC pre-trial chamber's warrant of arrest on Duterte stated that it had reasonable grounds to believe Duterte was "individually responsible for the crimes against humanity of murder” in connection with the killings in the anti-drug campaign.

"Taking into account the totality of the information before it, the Chamber finds reasonable grounds to believe that Mr. Duterte is individually responsible for the crime against humanity of murder as an indirect co-perpetrator within the meaning of Article 25 (3)(a) of the Statute, committed during the relevant period," read the document.

Duterte's son Davao City Representative Paolo "Pulong" Duterte has filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus before the SC to seek the former president's release from what he argued was illegal confinement and detention.

His other son Davao City Mayor Sebastian "Baste" Duterte and youngest daughter Veronica "Kitty" Duterte also filed separate petitions for habeas corpus. –NB, GMA Integrated News