Enrile believes Duterte an ICC target before he became president

Chief presidential legal counsel Juan Ponce Enrile expressed belief that former President Rodrigo Duterte has been the target of the International Criminal Court long before he became the country's chief executive.

In his Facebook post on Monday, Enrile said he is skeptical about the return of the former Philippine leader to the Philippines.

''The reason for my skepticism is that a book I am reading now, which was copyrighted in 2024 in the United States, says in one of its more than 500 pages: 'Of course, most assaults on democracy are more subtle. The careers of strongmen like Vladimir Putin, Victor Orbán, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Rodrigo Duterte, Jair Bolsomaro and Benjamin Natanyahu demonstrate how a leader who uses democracy to rise to power can then use his power to undermine democracy. As Erdogan once put it, 'Democracy is like a train. You ride it until you arrived at your destination, then you step off,''' Enrile said.

''I think FPRRD must have already been an ICC targeted suspect long before he became a president of the country,'' Enrile added.

Enrile said he is wondering why Duterte's legal counsels seemed not to have considered the contingency and prepared the legal defense for him.

''It is something to ponder about. Now his rabid supporters and strongly committed and loyal admirers  are clawing for support to extricate him from his legal predicament,'' he said.

Duterte served as Philippine president from June 30, 2016 to June 30, 2022.

Under the Duterte administration in 2018, the Philippine government decided to pull out of the Rome Statute—the treaty that created the ICC. The withdrawal took effect a year later in March 2019.

Duterte was flown to The Hague after his arrest and was placed in detention at the Hague Penitentiary Institution or the Scheveningen Prison on March 13 (PH time).

He faced the ICC via video link the following day, where the court read to him the charges against him related to the killings under his administration's war on drugs.

The confirmation of charges has been set for September 23, 2025. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News