The Philippines says it would be obliged to comply if Interpol requests the arrest of ex-President Duterte

MANILA: The Philippine government said on Wednesday (Nov 13) that it would not stand in the way of the situation President Rodrigo Duterte wants to surrender to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and should comply if his arrest is requested over his war on drugs.

During a congressional hearing on Wednesday on the bloody narcotics crackdown that killed thousands of Filipinos, the mercurial Duterte said he was not afraid of the ICC and told it to “hurry” its investigation into his possible crimes against humanity .

The office of current President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issued a statement hours later indicating its willingness to extradite Duterte if an Interpol request were made.

“The government will feel obliged to regard the red alert as a request to be honored, in which case domestic law enforcement agencies will be obliged to fully cooperate,” said the president’s executive secretary, Lucas Bersamin.

The statement was telling, mark the first time The Philippine government has suggested it would cooperate with the ICC, which last year paved the way for an investigation into the bloody campaign that defined Duterte’s presidency between 2016 and 2022.

Duterte when the president unilaterally withdrew the Philippines from the ICC in March 2019 after it launched a preliminary investigation into the killings. The court has said prosecutors have jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed before the withdrawal.

In the statement, Bersamin said the government would not stop or block Duterte if he wanted to surrender.