Baste Duterte sues gov't officials for kidnapping over Duterte's ICC arrest

Acting Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte on Monday filed multiple charges against several government officials over the March 11 arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte based on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.

The younger Duterte’s lawyers, led by Atty. Israelito Torreon, filed the complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman for Mindanao.

Among the respondents were Interior and Local Government Secretary Juan Victor Remulla, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, National Security Adviser Eduardo Año, Justice Secretary Crispin Remulla, Justice Undersecretary Nicholas Felix Ty, former PNP chiefs General Nicolas Torre III and Rommel Marbil, Markus Lacanilao, Anthony Alcantara, Richard Anthony Fadullon, Brigadier General Jean Fajardo.

They were charged with kidnapping, arbitrary detention, qualified direct assault, expulsion, usurpation of judicial functions, all under the Revised Penal Code, and for alleged violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (R.A. 3019).

In a Facebook post, Torreon said the complaint was filed at 8:55 a.m.

The camp of the former president has filed an appeal for his interim release from his detention in The Hague, Netherlands, over alleged crimes against humanity due to drug war killings.

ICC Deputy Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang earlier opposed Duterte's September appeal for interim release by saying that no less than his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, spoke in front of a crowd in The Hague repeating the claim that her father Duterte was "kidnapped" by the ICC, that it was "illegal" to bring him to the Court, and that she had discussed, albeit in jest, breaking Duterte out of the ICC detention unit with a colleague.

For his part, Remulla said the filing is an “organized effort to shoot down” his application for the position of Ombudsman. He also called the filing “forum shopping” as there is already a pending petition with the Supreme Court.

“It’s meant to actually try to shoot down my aspiration to be the Ombudsman in this country,” he said in a press briefing.

“They really timed it in that way na at they made it possible— they want to make it impossible for the JBC to get the requirements that I have to submit. Ganun talaga ‘yan. It’s really an organized effort from them to shoot down my candidacy as Ombudsman,” he later added.

Remulla said the Ombudsman has yet to give him a clearance for the JBC.

Last week, the Ombudsman dismissed the complaints against Remulla and others in connection with the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Senator Imee Marcos, then the chairperson of the Senate committee on foreign relations, who recommended the raps before the Ombudsman, has filed a motion for reconsideration.

“It was supposed to be given but the MR was filed by Senator Marcos. But it’s part and parcel of what we have to go through in the process of application,” he said.

According to Supreme Court spokesperson Atty. Camille Ting, Remulla and another applicant were given time at the end of the deliberations for the shortlist to secure their clearance. 

According to the Justice secretary, he believes the JBC will be deliberating very soon.—Llanesca Panti, with a report from Jandi Esteban of GMA Regional TV and Joahna Lei Casilao/AOL, GMA Integrated News