How the High-Stakes Arrest of Rodrigo Duterte Unfolded

The go to had been marketed for weeks. Former President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines was going to a rally in Hong Kong throughout the second weekend in March. However as quickly because it started, the journey took on a tantalizing aspect of intrigue: Was he ever coming again?

To many Filipinos, it appeared that Mr. Duterte was attempting to outrun justice. The Worldwide Felony Court docket, a sudden swirl of hypothesis in the Philippines posited, was about to hunt his arrest, years after it began investigating the lethal antidrug marketing campaign he had overseen as president and as mayor of Davao. By being in Hong Kong, the principle went, Mr. Duterte would stay free as a result of China will not be a member of the court docket.

Quickly after Mr. Duterte, 79, landed in Hong Kong on March 7, the I.C.C. issued a sealed warrant for him. However wind of the transfer reached him.

Over that weekend in Hong Kong, his entourage — which included his accomplice, Honeylet Avanceña, and daughter Sara Duterte, the present vice chairman — debated whether or not to remain in Chinese language territory or return dwelling, in keeping with two Philippine officers and a former lawmaker who spoke on the document and cited Philippines intelligence.

Salvador Panelo, his lawyer, disputed that account, saying Mr. Duterte had not even mentioned searching for asylum in China. “Why would Duterte escape?” he stated. “At his age, he now not cares about what will occur to him.”

In public, Mr. Duterte caught to his normal bluster. At the rally that Sunday, he advised a throng of largely Filipino ladies that if being arrested by the I.C.C. was his destiny in life, he would settle for it. His allies made pronouncements that he can be again in the Philippines that Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.

It was a bluff.

Mr. Duterte’s group had booked 5 flights again to Manila that day to obfuscate their precise arrival. And there was a personal jet ready at the airport for Mr. Duterte, presumably to take him on to his stronghold of Davao in the south, stated Police Maj. Gen. Nicolas Torre III and Antonio Trillanes, a former senator who filed a criticism towards Mr. Duterte with the I.C.C. in 2017. (Mr. Panelo, Mr. Duterte’s lawyer, denied this.)

Mr. Duterte landed round 9:30 a.m., hours earlier than his camp had telegraphed. However he was detained quickly after and, by the finish of the day, shipped off to The Hague, the place he’s awaiting trial.

This account of that day, a lot of it beforehand unreported, is predicated on recollections from Normal Torre, Mr. Trillanes and Inside Secretary Jonvic Remulla, in addition to public statements from Mr. Duterte and interviews with three of his allies.

It was maybe the most high-profile arrest for the I.C.C. For the kin of the tens of 1000’s of victims of Mr. Duterte’s drug battle, it was, lastly, a tangible step towards justice. And it’s more likely to outline the presidency of the present chief, Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. Hundreds of protesters have since accused Mr. Marcos of persecuting Mr. Duterte, his predecessor and onetime ally.

The gravity of the day appeared clear to Mr. Marcos. “There isn’t a cause to be blissful,” Mr. Marcos advised Mr. Remulla. “We shouldn’t rejoice.”

An 80-Web page Plan

Mr. Marcos was elected president in 2022, succeeding Mr. Duterte. He rose to energy after forming an alliance with Sara Duterte, who gained the race for vice chairman. Initially, he stated that he wouldn’t cooperate with the I.C.C.’s investigation of Mr. Duterte’s drug battle as a result of his predecessor had withdrawn the Philippines from the court docket.

However relations between Mr. Marcos and Ms. Duterte soured quickly, and he modified course on the I.C.C. In 2024, the Philippine Congress began an inquiry into the former president’s battle on medication. However Mr. Duterte nonetheless appeared untouchable, years after he first condoned 1000’s of abstract executions.

Justice, many Filipinos hoped, would come from abroad. Mr. Marcos’s authorities was additionally anticipating the I.C.C. to hunt Mr. Duterte’s arrest. The Philippine police had ready a secret 80-page plan referred to as “Operation Pursuit” on easy methods to detain Mr. Duterte. It included eventualities of arresting him in Manila or Davao, in keeping with a duplicate that was seen by The New York Instances.

It additionally had maps of properties belonging to Mr. Duterte, his accomplice and his allies, with arrows labeling the close by streets.

In The Hague, I.C.C. prosecutors utilized for a warrant for Mr. Duterte on Feb. 10, accusing him of crimes towards humanity. It was issued practically 4 weeks later and the Philippine authorities acquired it by way of Interpol early on March 11. That cleared the manner for Mr. Duterte’s detention as a result of the Philippines was nonetheless a member of Interpol.

At about 9.30 a.m., Mr. Duterte landed in Manila on Cathay Pacific flight 907. Mr. Duterte, who typically makes use of a cane, was ready for his wheelchair when an official boarded the airplane and advised him that he can be arrested on an Interpol warrant on behalf of the I.C.C.

“You would need to kill me first, if you’re going to ally with white foreigners,” he advised the official.

‘My Youngsters Will Go After You’

However Mr. Duterte didn’t provide a lot resistance and was despatched on a bus with a police escort to Villamor Air Base close to the airport. There he waited in the presidential lounge the place he had as soon as greeted dignitaries together with former Secretary of State Michael Pompeo.

Mr. Duterte’s attorneys tried to delay the studying of his rights in order that he wouldn’t be taken into custody, and his spouse refused for Mr. Duterte to get a checkup by a authorities physician, in keeping with Normal Torre.

After the police officer formally arrested him, Mr. Duterte stated: “You’ll retire in the future, and my kids will go after you.”

About 90 minutes after Mr. Duterte had landed in Manila, Mr. Marcos’s workplace in Malacañang Palace introduced the arrest.

However Mr. Duterte continued to argue that the I.C.C. had no jurisdiction in the Philippines.

“You need to prosecute me in the Philippine courts, with a Filipino choose and a Filipino prosecutor,” Mr. Duterte advised Normal Torre and different cops, in keeping with a video shared by his daughter Veronica Duterte. “You understand that is politics.”

The federal government was racing to fly Mr. Duterte on a chartered flight to the Netherlands to keep away from any doable civil unrest.

Mr. Duterte’s allies tried to get the Supreme Court docket to intervene, arguing that his detention was unlawful and unconstitutional. Their request was filed three minutes earlier than the court docket closed for the day.

Worldwide Obligations

To outsiders, Mr. Duterte’s destiny appeared unclear as the hours ticked by. Inside the lounge, Mr. Duterte sat on the presidential chair, the similar one which Mr. Marcos makes use of now, and had rice and barbecued meat with a Coca-Cola.

In the meantime, the authorities was caught up in a bureaucratic nightmare. Officers wanted to safe permission from different nations so the chartered airplane may fly of their airspace en path to The Hague. Vietnam, the first nation on their record, took three hours to reply. One other delay got here as a result of officers in Oman and the United Arab Emirates had shortened their working hours for Ramadan.

Mr. Duterte then requested to see Sara Duterte, the vice chairman, a request the authorities rejected. At round 9.40 p.m., Ms. Duterte turned up at the base, however guards turned her away. She advised reporters there that her father’s arrest was a “state kidnapping.”

Inside, Normal Torre requested Mr. Duterte to maneuver towards the airplane. However Salvador Medialdea, Mr. Duterte’s former govt secretary, stepped between the two males, attempting to bodily protect the former president. Normal Torre then arrested Mr. Medialdea for obstruction of justice, handcuffing him personally, and despatched him to the airplane.

Normal Torre then turned to Mr. Duterte to say: “It’s time. If I’ve to bodily carry you to the jet, I might.”

Mr. Duterte complied. His daughter Veronica and his accomplice, Ms. Avanceña had been in tears. Mr. Duterte and Ms. Avanceña hugged. At 11:03 p.m., he was in the air, accompanied by a retinue that included two docs, a nurse, three cops and Mr. Medialdea.

About quarter-hour later, Mr. Marcos addressed the nation from Malacañang Palace on the banks of the Pasig River. He rejected the notion that Mr. Duterte’s arrest was political, saying, “That is what the worldwide neighborhood expects of us as the chief of a democratic nation that’s half of the neighborhood of nations.”

After his speech, Mr. Marcos boarded his bulletproof boat to go again to his residence. The river was calm, and, behind him, the lights of the palace had been twinkling.

Aie Balagtas See contributed reporting.