Imee calls Duterte arrest ‘politically motivated’, accuses cover-up

Senator Imee Marcos on Tuesday said the arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte last month was “politically motivated,” accusing his brother’s administration of attempting to bring down the Dutertes.

Citing the additional findings of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations’ investigation into Duterte’s arrest, Senator Marcos highlighted the “clear pattern” of politically charged incidents directly preceding key statements and decisions made by the administration with respect to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

“The arrest of FPRRD was part a whole-of-government effort to bring down the Dutertes,” she said, pointing to the foiled People’s Initiative (PI) as the first “clear attempt” of the administration to shut down the chance of the Duterte family in the upcoming 2028 presidential elections.

“The very first clear attempt to bring down the Dutertes was the PI which would have served as a prelude to the revision of the political provisions in the Constitution in order to prevent the Dutertes from regaining the presidency in 2028,” she stressed.

“When the PI failed, the administration scrambled to destroy the Duterte name and to remove the family’s patriarch, FPRRD, from the country,” she added.

The PI, believed to be pushed by the House of Representatives, was marred by controversy due to the allegations that government funds were used as payoffs to gather signatures for the petition.

Senator Marcos said that as early as May 2024, the House of Representatives, led by her cousin Speaker Martin Romualdez, was already “attacking FPRRD by its attempt to link extra-judicial killings to him.”

She also noted that personnel of the ICC arrived in the country in October 2024 and received assistance from the government in securing documents necessary to obtain an arrest warrant against the former president.

Senator Marcos said the second attempt was the investigation of the lower house into the alleged misuse of confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President, headed by Duterte’s eldest daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte.

“Since VP Sara was still a threat in 2028 even without FPRRD, the House of Representatives conducted investigations on the OVP’s confidential funds and eventually impeached her,” she said.

On 5 February, a total of 215 lawmakers, or more than two-thirds of the House of Representatives members, supported the resolution to impeach Duterte.

The Senate has yet to tackle the impeachment case against Duterte. Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero said the upper chamber would convene the impeachment court on 30 July despite clamors to act on the impeachment complaints.

For Duterte to be convicted, the Senate, which will act as the impeachment court, must secure two-thirds of the votes – or at least 16 out of the current 23 senators.

One of the articles of the impeachment case against Duterte was the threat she made against the first couple – President Marcos and First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and Speaker Martin Romualdez.

Also listed as part of the seven articles of impeachment against Duterte was the alleged misuse and malversation of confidential funds appropriated to the Office of the Vice President, and the Department of Education, which she led for more than two years.

‘Action plan’

Senator Marcos also cited the documents entitled “Mid-Election Final Campaign Sprint Action Plan” (Action Plan) by the Lakas-CMD, as one of the pieces of evidence that will support the claims that the arrest and turnover of Duterte to the ICC was politically motivated.

“Dated 22 April 2025, the Action Plan described in detail the accomplishments of ‘Oplan Horus’, an operation launched sometime in April 2024, and was designed to bring down the Dutertes,” she said.

“In the portion of the Action Plan entitled ‘How to Attack’, various government agencies, including the Philippine National Police (PNP), and the House of Representatives worked with former Senator Antonio Trillanes in helping the ICC Prosecutor obtain an ICC warrant for the arrest of FPRRD,” she added.

She continued: “The Action Plan also provides that the necessary votes to impeach VP Sara in the House of Representatives were obtained through the use of ‘soft’ projects such as AICS, AKAP, and TUPAD.”

Senator Marcos also said a portion of the Action Plan indicated that the impeachment of the Vice President must be sped up and that the necessary votes in the Senate would be obtained using “For Later Release” projects as rewards.

‘Cover up’

Senator Marcos also accused her brother’s administration of a “coordinated attempt” to cover up the details and motive behind the arrest of the former president.

She highlighted the use of Interior and Local Government Secretary Juanito Victor “Jonvic” Remulla of executive privilege when asked during the Senate hearing about the supposed “group effort” of the administration to arrest Duterte.

She also described the sub judice rule as another potent weapon of the administration to prevent the Senate panel from fully ferreting out the truth behind the arrest.

“An example of this was when General Nicolas Torre III was caught uttering an obviously misleading statement during the first hearing when he claimed that the reason he was rushing to deliver FPRRD to The Hague was because of the reglementary period under Article 125 of the Revised Penal Code,” she said.

“When confronted with the fact that Article 125 of the Revised Penal Code applies only to warrantless arrests, General Torre, upon the advice of the DOJ, invoked the sub judice rule all of a sudden,” she added.

Senator Marcos also noted that the “blanket use” by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin of the executive privilege doctrine to prevent executive officials from attending the second hearing of the Senate panel.

“The cover-up did not stop at the hearings. After the arrest of FPRRD, pro-Duterte sentiments rose while the trust rating of the administration plummeted severely,” she said.

She continued: “The Committee received information from a reliable source that the administration has launched a communication plan to divert the attention of the people from the arrest and transport of FPRRD to the issues in the West Philippine Sea and the alleged disinformation activities of China.”

The lawmaker was referring to the alleged claims that China was interfering in the upcoming May midterm elections in the Philippines by supporting pro-China candidates.

Duterte was arrested on 11 March at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport upon his return to the country from a trip to Hong Kong. On the same day, he was transferred to The Hague, Netherlands, where the International Criminal Court (ICC) is based.

Duterte is suspected of murder qualified as a crime against humanity, allegedly committed in the Philippines between 1 November 2011 and 16 March 2019.

Based on government data, at least 7,000 people were killed under Duterte's drug war, however, both local and international human rights groups disagreed with the figures, stressing that the actual number of victims could be as high as 30,000.