Bring him home? Duterte trial in PH unlikely, says legal experts

Bringing former president Rodrigo Duterte back to the country to be tried before a Philippine court is unlikely to happen, international law experts said Tuesday.

“Sa nakikita ko ngayon, mukhang hindi matutuloy or hindi magkakaroon ng oportunidad na dinggin ang kaso dito sa Pilipinas, gawa nga po na nasa The Hague na ang dating pangulo. So maghintay na lang po tayo kung ano yung mga pwedeng mangyari sa mga susunod na linggo o buwan,” said lawyer Matthew Irasga in Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon. 

(Based on how things are happening now, I don’t think it’s possible or there will be an opportunity for his cases to be tried here in the Philippines given that the former president is in The Hague. So we just have to wait on what could possibly happen next in the coming weeks or months.) 

Duterte is now in custody of the International Criminal Court at The Hague in the Netherlands for his alleged crimes against humanity in relation to his administration’s deadly war on drugs. 

In separate petitions before the Supreme Court, Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte and Veronica “Kitty” Duterte to present the former president before the high court. 

Kitty, who was represented by former chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo and Salvador Paolo Panelo Jr., noted in the petition that an arrest warrant  cannot be used as a basis for the arrest and detention of the former president because the ICC has no jurisdiction in the country.

For his part, Dino de Leon, an alumnus of The Hague Academy of International Law, said the complementarity principle the ICC has a jurisdiction when national legal systems fail to accomplish what is required of them. 

“Wala naman ni isang kasong hinarap si Rodrigo Duterte dito sa ating bansa. So batay na rin sa complementarity principle, kapag ang estado ay hindi kaya or unwilling or unable to try yung perpetrator ng crimes against humanity, ay kailangan managot siya sa International Criminal Court,” he said in Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon.

(Rodrigo Duterte did not face any cases here in the country. So based on the complementarity principle, if the state is unwilling or unable to try the perpetrators of the crimes against humanity, they should be held accountable before the International Criminal Court.) 

Malacañang said earlier in the day the ICC can look into the crimes against humanity that Duterte allegedly committed in connection with his deadly war on drugs because these took place before he withdrew the Philippines as a member in 2019.

But Palace Press Officer and lawyer Claire Castro said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. believes the ICC currently has no jurisdiction over the Philippines. —RF, GMA Integrated News