On his regular birthdays, the pizza and other food items that arrived at the Villamor Airbase in Pasay City would have been his treat to his family and friends, who, in return, would usually make good wishes for him.
But March 11, 2025 is no ordinary birthday for Police Maj. Gen. Nicolas Torre III. There were no family members, no friends and instead of good wishes, what he got was a threat from former president Rodrigo Duterte.
“No less than president Duterte reminded me that I will eventually retire and his children and relatives will file charges against me after my retirement, and even before my retirement,” said Torre during a Palace briefing.
“He threatened me but everything is okay. My skin is thick and I can handle that,” he added.
Torre was the designated ground commander of the police team that was tasked to assist the International Police in serving the arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday, March 11.
His mission was to secure Duterte, board him to a chartered plane bound for the Netherland where the latter would be turned over to the ICC at The Hague.
After 12 hours, it was a mission accomplished for Torre.
But it was no easy task because according to Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesperson Brig. Gen. Jean Fajardo, the policemen present, including her and Torre, were repeatedly cursed at and insulted by people close to Duterte during that 12-hour mission.
Aside from the video circulating on social media of Duterte’s daughter cursing at Torre, the official said he was also pushed by the former president’s partner, Honeylet, when they crossed paths along a hallway.
But according to Torre, he has no plan of pursuing any case against Honeylet and Kitty.
“It was a case of observing the maximum of the maximum tolerance,” said Torre.
All about the job
Torre became a popular police official for getting any hard task done after the arrest of Apollo Quiboloy right inside the compound of Kingdom of Jesus Christ in Davao City.
And that reputation was possibly the reason why he was tapped anew to help assist the Interpol in the case of Duterte—even if the date fell on his 55th birthday.
And that mission that made him one of the most hated persons for the supporters of the former president and one of the most insulted on social media right now.
"i just would like to reiterate that I don’t find joy in doing these difficult jobs,” said Torre.
“I just want to emphasize that I did not do this for personal aggrandizement or for whatever reason. I did it because I am the head of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.”
“This is something that has to be done to start the judicial processes that happened to be involving the ICC, an international body which is a neutral body that does not care about the personalities but only the facts presented to the foreign judges,” he stressed.
The case of Leila
For Torre, the Filipino complainants of the case of crime against humanity filed against Duterte may have felt that there was no hope in the Philippine judicial system because during that time, even a sitting senator and former Justice secretary was jailed.
Torre appeared to be referring to Leila de Lima, who was kicked out by her fellow senators when she was linked and charged with illegal drugs-related cases.
De Lima’s detention was suspected to be a retaliatory attack when she initiated the investigation into the drug war of Duterte when he was still the mayor of Davao City. During that time, De Lima was the Justice secretary.
“The complainants are Filipinos who did not see hope in the judicial system, in the judicial processes in our country because during the time of PRRD (president Rodirgo Roa Duterte) a sitting senator and a former Justice secretary was in detention. That’s why they went to ICC,” said Torre.
“Now that he was already taken to a neutral forum, I am sure that the former president has the capacity to defend himself using the lawyers that he can afford, that he will get. So, I think this is fair,” he stressed.