As 2025 draws to a close, the International Criminal Court (ICC) delivered a final blow to any hope that former president Rodrigo Duterte will be temporarily released from detention after its Appeals Chamber affirmed the Sept. 26 decision of the Pre-Trial Chamber I (PTC I) to deny his interim release application. 

Nicholas Kaufman, the ex-president’s lead counsel, has already confirmed that Duterte will be spending his first Christmas at the ICC’s detention facility, while also admitting that his family might not be allowed to visit him because of the holidays. 

“He wishes to spend Christmas with his family. Doesn't anyone want to spend Christmas? On the actual Christmas day itself, Boxing Day, these are official court holidays. No visits, unfortunately, are allowed at all,” the lawyer said. 

“However, we are going to try and change that. Because we believe that the former president should be with his family on Christmas. We will fight for that. What the court decides obviously is a different matter,” he added. 

The news—polarizing as Duterte’s arrest and extradition to The Hague in March 2025–brought out different sentiments from the public about the continuous detention of an 80-year-old ex-leader.

The Appeals Chamber is the final arbiter of rulings made by the lower chambers. Its decision is final and unappealable, but Kaufman expressed hope that an upcoming report on Duterte’s health condition might help their cause.

Last time 

The last time that the former leader was seen by the public was via a livestream hearing when he faced through teleconference the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber I (PTC I) on March 14 to formally hear the charges against him. 

He hasn’t been seen by his supporters and the general public since then; a photo from inside the detention facility isn’t allowed, and his supporters merely rely on what his family members say about his condition. 

Vice President Sara Duterte, who has repeatedly gone back to The Hague to visit her father, said that he lost a lot of weight and that he was the thinnest she has seen him. 

“Sinasabi ko sa inyo hindi nyo pa siya nakita na ganito kapayat. Bakit ba pumayat? Dahil unang-una, hirap siya sa kanyang kalagayan. Hindi naman kasi siya marunong ng gawaing pambahay (You haven’t seen him this thin. Why is he losing weight? Firstly, he is having a hard time with his condition. He doesn’t know how to do things),” she said back in June. 

There were numerous photos on social media that showed the Duterte patriarch paper-thin, but these were debunked by his family. 

The ex-leader was arrested at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 upon his arrival from Hong Kong on March 11. 

He was flown to The Hague via private jet on the same day, after an afternoon of negotiations between his camp and local police authorities, who implemented the ICC-issued arrest warrant with the Interpol.  

Since his stay at the Scheveningen Prison in The Hague, Netherlands, his family members have taken turn to visit him on a regular basis, with the Vice President flying to The Hague multiple times since March that she was called out for missing out her duties at the Office of the Vice President (OVP).

His vast network of supporters—especially overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) across Europe—trooped to the park outside the ICC facility to protest his continued detention. 

Occasionally, politicians and ex-Cabinet members also participated in the rallies and picnics, showing the massive support that Duterte has garnered since winning the presidential elections back in 2016. 

Interim release rejected

But it is also this massive network of support and his landslide win as Davao City mayor in May 2025 that the ICC’s Appeals Chamber—the final arbiter of ICC rulings—used to reject his temporary liberty plea. 

“The Appeals Chamber considers that, contrary to the Defence's argument, the Pre-Trial Chamber specifically outlined why it found that there existed a network of supporters in relation to Mr Duterte, and for which reason this supported its conclusion that the risk under Article 58(1)(b)(i) of the Statute was established,” the ICC Appeals Chamber ruled.

“In the same vein, the Defence fails to demonstrate that the Pre-Trial Chamber's reliance on Mr. Duterte re-election as mayor of Davao City in its assessment of the risks under Article 58(1)(b)(iii) of the Statute was ‘unreasonable’,” it added in a hearing livestreamed on its website and social media pages but which Duterte did not attend personally.

He sent Kaufman instead. 

“We represent the former president of the Philippines, Mr. Rodrigo Roa Duterte, who, with the leave of the Court, is absent today but very much present in spirit,” Kaufman had said during the Nov. 28 ruling of the Appeals Chamber. 

Pending applications

The Duterte camp has two other pending applications—the appeal to overturn the PTC I’s decision affirming its jurisdiction on the case and the petition to adjourn all legal proceedings against the former president on the basis that he is suffering from declining cognitive abilities. 

There have long been reports that the 80-year-old Duterte—even when he was still president—has been suffering from undisclosed health conditions. 

There have also been reports that he was found unconscious in the ICC detention facility, with photos of a very thin Duterte making their rounds on social media. The photos have since been dismissed as fake news by his children. 

Kaufman said Duterte’s detention has affected his health, so much so that he claims the ex-leader now has difficulty recalling events, dates, and even names of his close family members. 

This runs contrary to statements made by his children, including the Vice President, who repeatedly shared about the conversations she has with her father. 

“Yes, okay lang naman yung bisita (the visit was okay). It was a good day today,” she shared earlier this month while in The Hague.

The official said that she and her father talked about corruption issues plaguing the country, as well as the upcoming inauguration of the Bucana Bridge in Davao City.

A panel of medical experts was scheduled to release its report on the former leader’s condition on Dec. 5, with the prosecution, defense, and victims’ counsel asked to submit their replies until a week after.

“We hope that the evaluation, the medical experts will prove that we are right in our submissions. We work with that man on a daily basis and we find it extremely difficult because of the impediments that he's facing,” he said. 

Duterte—whose mass appeal created the Diehard Duterte Supporters or DDS—has been detained since March, with nary a video or a photo published. 

He is facing crimes against humanity of murder charges in relation to his brutal war on drugs policy that killed thousands of Filipinos mostly in slum areas. 

When the Appeals Chamber denied his interim release appeal, a group composed of the relatives of drug war victims breathed a collective sigh of relief. 

Nay Llore, a relative of a victim, expressed her gratitude to the Appeals Chamber for bringing the victims one step closer to justice. 

“Dapat manatili sa kulungan si Duterte habang dinidinig ang kaso laban sa kanya (Duterte should remain in jail while his case is being heard),” she stressed, while others said Duterte’s supporters want them to stop seeking justice for their loved ones.

At least for this Christmas, the former strongman—once the most powerful man in this country—will remain in prison, while drug war victims and their loved ones can celebrate this small win. 

There is a bigger battle to be won for them, of course, as they await for the medical assessment that will determine Duterte’s fitness to participate in pre-trial proceedings and to face the thousands of pieces of evidence the prosecution has submitted.