Duterte’s return to PH not likely — former lawmaker

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews / 13 March) — A former lawmaker ruled out the possible return of former President Rodrigo Duterte from The Hague in the Netherlands where he is being detained by the International Criminal Court to face trial for the charge of crime against humanity of murder.

Former Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares speaks in Davao City in July 2024. File photo by GABRIELLI ANDOLANA

In a Zoom discussion Thursday morning, lawyer Neri Colmenares, a former Bayan Muna representative, said one of Duterte’s options is to seek interim release as provided under article 59(3) of the Rome Statute, the treaty governing the conduct of the ICC.

But he noted that the succeeding provision, article 59(4), states that interim release may only be granted by the custodial State under “exceptional circumstances” and if “necessary safeguards exist to ensure that the custodial State can fulfil its duty to surrender the person to the Court.”

The same article adds, “It shall not be open to the competent authority of the custodial State to consider whether the warrant of arrest was properly issued in accordance with article 58, paragraph 1(a) and (b),” the article on the issuance of arrest warrants or summons to appear by the Pre-Trial Chamber.

Colmenares said that in case Duterte was granted interim release, he would have to remain in the Netherlands.

But interim release is unlikely, given the “gravity of the crimes and evidence,” Colmenares, speaking mostly in Filipino, added.

He pointed out that the arrest warrant from the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber 1 names Duterte as an indirect co-perpetrator as head of State at the time the alleged crimes happened and founder of the Davao Death Squad.

“As the founder and head of the DDS and, later, the head of the State of the Philippines, Mr Duterte, jointly with high-ranking government officials and members of the police force (the ‘co-perpetrators’) and through other persons, agreed to ‘neutralise’ individuals they identified as alleged criminals or individuals with criminal propensities, including but not limited to drug offenders, initially in Davao and subsequently throughout the country,” page 9 of the warrant states.

Colmenares said that while Duterte may not have committed the killings himself, for the Court, those who ordered the killings are more important.

He also asked what the Court meant when it said that those who were killed were “identified as alleged criminals or individuals with criminal propensities, including but not limited to drug offenders.”

“What does this mean? Is this about political killings? We should assert that the ICC should also look into political killings because they’re still crimes against humanity,” he said. (H. Marcos C. Mordeno / MindaNews)