Marcos on Duterte's ICC arrest: 'Nothing personal, just business'

Lade Jean Kabagani·13 March 2025, 5:36 pm·1 min read

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Marcos on Duterte's ICC arrest: 'Nothing personal, just business' — (FILE PHOTO) Two heads Decisions to be made on ‘what’s good for the country’ lie on the shoulders of the country’s top leaders, and while both President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his predecessor, former President Rodrigo Duterte, had been known to meet in the past on the China situation, it remains to be seen how service of an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court against the latter would pan out this time.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF PCO

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos Jr. emphasized that the Philippine government is “merely fulfilling” its duties and obligations to the international community in carrying out the arrest of former president Rodrigo R. Duterte.

Marcos also defended the government’s cooperation with the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), saying it is the country’s fulfillment of its responsibility.

“Again, the government is just doing its job. Wala namang (personalan), it's not because it's one person or another that we do the things that we do,” Marcos told the reporters.

“Maybe noong mga nakaraan na mga administrasyon, baka ganoon ang ginagawa. Pero sa akin, hindi naman ganoon. Sumusunod tayo sa batas. We are a member of the community of nations (Maybe in the past administrations, that’s what they did. But for me, it’s not like that. We follow the law. We are a member of the community of nations),” he added.

On 1 March, the former president and his family arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport from a Hong Kong trip.

Duterte was immediately placed under government custody and brought to Villamor Air Base, where he was fetched by an ICC-chartered plane bound for The Hague, Netherlands.

Marcos said the former president was flown to The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity in connection with his previous implementation of the bloody war on drugs in the country.