Vice President Sara Duterte will be the next high-ranking government official to be arrested by the International Criminal Court (ICC), Senator Imee Marcos revealed Tuesday.
According to Senator Marcos, the Vice President’s name appeared at the bottom part of the list of persons to be arrested by the ICC, a claim initially divulged by the younger Duterte herself.
“There are also allegations. First of all, several weeks ago, a draft was mooted involving a warrant of arrest of five police officers, including Senator Ronald ‘Bato’ de la Rosa. Of late, there has been a rumor, once again, that the Vice President will, in fact, be issued by the ICC a warrant immediately,” she told reporters at a press briefing.
“So, we know that VP Sara is on the list, but I know that she's lower down among those named. However, a few days ago, there were reports that she will be the first one targeted,” she added.
In a media interview in Cebu City on Sunday, Duterte confirmed that her name appeared on the list of persons to be arrested by the ICC in relation to her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte’s crimes against humanity charges before the international tribunal.
“So, I understood that they were listening to our conversations because they thought we were discussing the case and what we’re doing about the case here in the Philippines, and our strategies for the case,” Duterte said.
“It’s not just me. My name is far down the list. The names ahead of mine are Senator Ronald Dela Rosa, former PNP chiefs Oscar Albayalde, [Vicente] Danao, and [Gerandy] Caramat,” she said.
The younger Duterte also claimed that their family’s well-known ally at the Senate, Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, is also on the said list.
“They come first, before me,” she said.
Dela Rosa led the PNP from 2016 to 2018. He spearheaded the Duterte administration’s controversial anti-drug campaign, Oplan Tokhang. Albayalde, who succeeded him, served as PNP chief from April 2018 until his early retirement in October 2019.
Before taking the helm at the Office of the Vice President, Duterte served as Davao City mayor from 2010 to 2013, while her father served as her vice mayor.
Prior to this, the above-mentioned individuals were already tagged as co-perpetrators of the former president as shown in the application for a warrant of arrest posted on the ICC website.
The names of the co-perpetrators were redacted for their safety in the public document by the international tribunal.
Based on government data, there were fewer than 7,000 people killed under Duterte’s war against illegal drugs, most of them from poor families and communities.
Both local and international human rights organizations, however, disagree with the figure, stressing that up to 30,000 more people may have been killed as a result of the drug war.