The Philippines was asked to enforce the warrant of arrest against former president Rodrigo Duterte, and it only fulfilled its commitment to the Interpol, President Marcos said, insisting that the arrest of his predecessor on Tuesday morning, March 11, was not politically motivated.
"So, this is the evolution of this case and this is where we end up," Marcos said in a late-night Palace briefing on Tuesday, following the arrest of Duterte over crimes against humanity.
Marcos presided over a Palace press conference, shortly after the aircraft carrying Duterte took off from the Villamor Airbase on Tuesday evening. The plane carrying the former president took off from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) at 11:03 p.m.
Facing the media, he confirmed that the plane was headed to The Hague in the Netherlands where he will be facing charges of crimes against humanity in relation to his bloody war on drugs during his administration.
Since Duterte's arrest on Tuesday morning, his camp had kept on insisting that the arrest was unlawful, and that he could not be apprehended and taken before the international body because the Philippines was no longer a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Marcos addressed all these claims in an eleven-minute presser, underscoring that the government had a "very clear" basis for the arrest.
'Interpol asked for help'
"Interpol asked for help, and we obliged because we have commitments to the Interpol which we have to fulfill. If we don’t do that, they will not – they will no longer help us with other cases involving Filipino fugitives abroad," Marcos stressed.
The President emphasized that serving the arrest warrant to Duterte was "what the international community expects of us as the leader of a democratic country that is part of the community of nations."
"[W]e followed every single necessary procedure – the very good basis on which to serve that warrant and to read him his rights," Marcos said.
"So, I’m confident that if in further examination, you will find that it is proper and correct," he added.
Marcos stressed that the government never helped the ICC in its investigation on the crimes related to the drug war.
He insisted that the arrest was in compliance with the country's commitments to Interpol.
"It just so happened that that came from ICC. But it's not because it came from ICC, it's because it came from Interpol," he said.
Not political persecution
While Marcos said he expected that some would label the arrest as something political, he argued that this was not the case.
"I'm sure sasabihin nila ‘yan (they will say that). But this case started in 2017 when we were still members of the ICC and it was during the time of former president Duterte," he said.
"So, I don't see how that can be political persecution on my part because the -- it was initiated before I even came into the picture," he added.
Marcos said they must recognize that the arrest was only a part of the process initiated by the ICC through the Interpol, to which the Philippines is committed to.
He also said that the ICC has requested for so many documents for the drug war probe, but the Philippines never surrendered any document.
The government was only doing its job, Marcos said, stressing that "it’s not because it’s one person or another that we do the things that we do."
Maybe, it was done in other previous administrations, but not this time, he further said.
"Sumusunod tayo sa batas (We are following the law). We are a member of the community of nations. We must live up to our responsibilities to the commitments that we have made to the community of nations," Marcos said.
"And that is what has happened here. Politics doesn’t enter into it," he added.
The President also denied claims that his administration is not going after Duterte, when he is not running for any office.
"Why— he’s never going to be a candidate for anything. Why go after him? Hindi ba? At saka 2017 pa ito, wala pa ako, civilian pa ako noon (Right? And it was in 2017, I was still a civilian back then)," Marcos said.
Arrest warrant came at 3 a.m.
Marcos revealed that they got a hold of the warrant of arrest issued by the ICC at 3 a.m. Tuesday.
He said at 6:30 a.m., he told the concerned government agencies to proceed with the arrest.
"And I said, 'okay, we’ll put all our plans into place and sige, let’s proceed as we had discussed.' That’s what happened," he said.
"So, yes, there is a very clear document that will explain when the -- how on the -- sorry, that will explain the basis on how we conducted this arrest of former President Duterte," he added.