Duterte Faces the ICC He Once Mocked — Pre-Trial Begins at The Hague as Ex-President's Bravado Meets Reality
Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte — the man who once dared the International Criminal Court to "come get him" — sat in pre-trial proceedings at The Hague on Thursday afternoon. The irony was thick enough to cut with a knife. The same leader who taunted, mocked, and threatened the ICC for years is now a detainee in the Netherlands, facing three counts of murder constituting crimes against humanity.
Duterte's own public admissions are coming back to haunt him. During congressional hearings in 2024, he openly admitted that police were rewarded for "solving" big cases — including those that ended with suspects killed. He even confessed to goading officers into provoking suspects just to give them an excuse to pull the trigger. The prosecution has woven these statements into their case, noting that Duterte's speeches made police "even more courageous to kill."
His former spokesperson Harry Roque admitted he "never imagined beyond his wildest imagination" that the case would reach this point. Roque, who also served as Duterte's informal ICC adviser, told Rappler that jurisdiction remains the strongest defense — arguing that if the court has no jurisdiction, Duterte goes home. But repeated challenges on that front have failed so far.
Lead defense lawyer Nicholas Kaufman has enlisted French lawyer Dov Jacobs, whose scholarly work on jurisdiction was once cited by two ICC judges. Jacobs had argued that the court lost jurisdiction over the Philippines when it withdrew from the Rome Statute. Their latest appeal on jurisdiction remains pending, pero mukhang uphill battle na talaga.
From the fiery rhetoric of Malacañang to the cold proceedings of an international courtroom — it's a journey nobody expected, least of all Duterte himself. The man who once said he'd have a shootout with anyone who tried to arrest him is now, by all accounts, resigned to the possibility of spending his remaining days in The Hague.
Source: Rappler
