VERONICA “Kitty” Duterte, daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte, filed a habeas corpus petition with the Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday, seeking her father’s return to the Philippines following his transfer to The Hague, Netherlands.
The petition, filed on the former president’s behalf and represented by former chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo and Salvador Paolo Panelo Jr., demands that the government produce Duterte before the High Court.
The petition’s central argument hinges on the ICC’s lack of jurisdiction in the Philippines. Panelo Jr. stated in an ambush interview,
“The grounds for our petition, first of all, is that the arrest warrant cannot be used as a basis for the arrest and detention of former President Duterte because the ICC has no jurisdiction in the country.”
This assertion stems from the Philippines’ withdrawal from the Rome Statute in 2019, the treaty establishing the ICC, following the tribunal’s investigation into the Duterte administration’s drug war.
Panelo Jr. further emphasized that the ICC’s jurisdiction is only applicable when a nation’s legal system is dysfunctional, a condition he vehemently refutes. He cited statements from the Philippine government to the ICC itself, affirming the country’s fully functioning legal system. He specifically mentioned Justice Secretary Boying Remulla’s declaration of the ICC’s lack of right to interfere.
The petition names Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Police General Rommel Marbil, and PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group chief Major General Nicolas Torre III as respondents. Duterte’s arrest on Tuesday stemmed from alleged crimes against humanity committed during his administration’s anti-illegal drug campaign.
