Former Filipino leader in The Hague after arrest against the war on drugs

An airplane that transports the former president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, arrived in the Netherlands, where he faces charges of crimes against humanity In the International Criminal Court (ICC) on its mortal “War on drugs.”

Duterte was arrested at Manila airport on Tuesday and in a matter of hours was on a chartered plane that flew through Dubai to The Hague, where the CPI is located.

He 79 years could become the first former Asian head of state to be tried in the CPI.

Duterte, who played his extradition, led the Philippines from 2016 to 2022 and presided over a violent “war on drugs” that saw thousands of drug traffickers, users and other dead without trial.

The Gulfstream G550 landed in Dubai for an early stop on Wednesday and its expected game was delayed for several hours, while Duterte received medical checks, reports the Reuters news agency.

Once it landed in Rotterdam, the CPI confirmed that Duterte was on board.

Previously, the CPI said it would take the custody of Duterte and schedule a hearing for its initial appearance before the court.

Duterte’s main political rival, current President Ferdinand Marcos JR, was essential to deliver it. Minutes after Duterte left the Philippines airspace, Marcos gave a televised speech saying that the country was fulfilling its legal obligation.

“This is what the international community expects from us,” Marcos said.

Duterte and Marcos families are the most powerful political dynasties of the Philippines. They joined the forces to sweep the last national elections of the country in 2022, but they have fallen in recent months while looking for separate agendas.

Duterte that is delivered to the ICC is the last turn in a political enmity that has developed spectacularly in public opinion.

The Duterte and Marcos families formed a formidable alliance in the 2022 elections against the wishes of the old Duterte, his daughter Sara ran like Marcos JR’s vice president instead of looking for her father’s position.

Marcos initially refused to cooperate with the CPI investigation, but as his relationship with the Duterte family deteriorated, he changed his position.

The Vice President Duterte said that his father’s arrest was equivalent to “kidnapping”, claiming that he violated the Philippine sovereignty. He left Manila for the Netherlands on Wednesday, according to his office.

Rodrigo Duterte previously insisted that the ICC does not have jurisdiction on the Philippines, since it took the country from the court in 2019, three years after it took note of the increase in the death of the drug war.

But according to the Rome Statute that is the basis of the ICC, the Court maintains the jurisdiction on the alleged crimes committed before a nation leaves the court.

The research of the CPI covers 2011-2019, which includes the period in which Duterte was mayor of Davao, an expanding metropolis in the south of the country, where his family has had power for decades.

The complaints filed against Duterte at the ICC allege that he maintained a “death squad” of rewards hunters to persecute drug suspects in Davao, and then replied this national model when he was elected president.

Human Rights Watch described Duterte’s arrest as a “critical step for responsibility in the Philippines.”

Duterte built a reputation for Davao as one of the safer cities in the Philippines, and cultivated the image of a man of the masses who speaks hard and anti-establishment to achieve a dark horse victory in the 2016 presidential elections.

Surveys show that he is the most popular Philippines president since the restoration of democracy in 1986.

His supporters have threatened to celebrate great demonstrations to protest against his arrest. They had asked the Supreme Court to issue a restriction order against the Order of the ICC, but the court did not act before the former president was flown on Tuesday.

In social networks, where the Difertes maintain a strong follow -up, the reaction was mixed.

Many praised the ICC for delivering justice for those who died in the war against drugs, while others defended Duterte’s legacy, and some requested generalized manifestations.

“Justice served,” he read an improved comment about Tiktok.

“Philippines was safe during Duterte’s time,” wrote another Tiktok user, saying that the former leader built bridges, roads and other infrastructure. “He was the best president.”

Additional Fan Wang reports