Gov’t has not received communication on Interpol red notice for Digong — Palace

Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro said the government has not yet received any communication or documents showing an arrest warrant, issued by Interpol, against former president Rodrigo Duterte.

“We have not yet received any communication regarding the red notice and we have spoken to Asec. Mico [Clavano] from the DOJ and as of now, they are also looking at their records. As of now, we have not yet received any communication regarding that,” she said in a Palace briefing.

On Saturday, reports circulated that an arrest warrant had supposedly been issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Duterte.

However, the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor refused to confirm if such a warrant exists.

On Sunday, Presidential Communications Office ad-interim Secretary Jay Ruiz issued a statement saying that the government is prepared for any eventuality.

“We’ve heard that an arrest warrant has been issued by the International Criminal Court against former President Rodrigo Duterte for crimes against humanity. The government is prepared for any eventuality,” he said in a statement.

While Malacañang is waiting for a physical copy of the arrest warrant, if it was actually issued by the ICC, Castro said it might take a long time for the government to verify the document as the Philippines is no longer a member of the ICC.

She noted that the international tribunal may use alternative means in order to serve the warrant of arrest against Duterte.

“The DOJ said that since we are not a member of the ICC now, the ICC has options on how they will serve it. If we happened to be a member, it could be sent through the Office of the President or the DOJ or the DFA. But the ICC can still consider us as a member, and they can do the procedures I mentioned. But it is up to them whether it will be sent directly to the country where the person they want to serve the arrest warrant is,” she said.

In January, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said the Marcos administration’s position toward the ICC remains unchanged but will be “open” to requests made by Interpol.