Duterte told ICC to come get him. Today, he is on pre-trial.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte will undergo pre-trial proceedings later today (5 pm Manila time) at The Hague in the very same court he taunted, mocked, and threatened for many years.

“I am asking the ICC to hurry up, and if possible, they can come here and start the investigation tomorrow,” Duterte said in November 2024, when he faced the House of Representatives and admitted there were really rewards for policemen who “solved” big cases, including those that ended up in killed.

Earlier that year in the Senate, Duterte also admitted that he goaded policemen into provoking suspects, just so they could have an excuse to shoot and kill.

Duterte’s public remarks have become part of the prosecution’s evidence in charging the ex-president with three counts of murder that make up crimes against humanity. “The effect of Duterte’s speeches is reflected, for example, in the statement of [redacted] that police became ‘even more courageous’ ‘to kill’ after hearing the President’s speeches,” read part of the prosecution’s pre-confirmation brief.

Harry Roque, who was presidential spokesperson under Duterte and an informal adviser on ICC, said he “never” thought the case would reach this point. “I never imagined beyond my wildest imagination that the ICC will exercise jurisdiction over the Philippines which had withdrawn their membership,” Roque told Rappler over a Zoom interview on Sunday, February 22.

“[Jurisdiction] is the strongest defense because if there’s no jurisdiction then he goes home,” Roque said.

Lead defense lawyer Nicholas Kaufman has enlisted the help of Dov Jacobs, a French lawyer whose scholarly work on jurisdiction had once been cited by two ICC judges, and who thought that the court had indeed lost jurisdiction over the Philippines. Their dissenting views lost.

Kaufman has appealed their latest loss on jurisdiction, and it has remained pending to this day.

One year in The Hague

While there are 13 active investigations in the ICC right now, there are only three cases where there’s a suspect in custody – the Philippines, Libya and Central African Republic. (Others are convicts already serving their sentences.)

“I think the ICC is fighting for its survival. And they need a former president to help them because otherwise they would have an empty caseload,” said Roque.

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From taunting former prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, to threatening a shootout should the ICC try to arrest him, Duterte is now resigned to the thought of spending the rest of his days in The Hague, inside the cold Schveningen complex where war criminals are also detained.

Duterte said in a letter last week that he wished that the ICC would “respect my peace inside the cell it has placed me,” and “I have accepted the fact that I could die in prison.”

Outside the prison complex, Duterte’s standees have taken on an almost worship-like significance for loyal supporters who secured permission to gather daily from 10 am to 6 pm. On Sunday, February 22, a Filipino woman named Elsie Milan prayed over one of the standees.

Milan said she traveled from Vienna to The Hague because, she claimed, “I was urgently called by God.” That day, supporters shared homemade Filipino snacks — ginataang mais, a sweet corn rice pudding — using wooden spoons engraved with the words “Rodrigo Duterte forever.”

“Why would you support a murderer?” asked 29-year-old Sheerah Escudero, sister of a teenager killed in 2017 by vigilantes. Escudero had flown in from Manila, sacrificing a week’s worth of wages from her job as virtual assistant.

“It’s about time we check ourselves, sino ba ang tinatangkilik natin, at bakit natin jina-justify ang killings?” Escudero said. (It’s about time we check ourselves, who are we supporting, and why are we justifying killings?)

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– Rappler.com