Panelo says Duterte arrest 'unlawful'

Former chief presidential legal counsel Atty. Salvador Panelo said Tuesday the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte as unlawful.

In a statement, Panelo said the Philippine National Police did not allow one of Duterte’s lawyers to meet him at the airport and to question the legal basis for Duterte’s arrest.

“He was deprived of legal representation at the time of his arrest. The PNP could not have a hard copy [of] the warrant arrest. By not allowing one of his lawyers to meet him, the arresting [officer] could avoid being asked if they have the hard copy of the arrest warrant,” Panelo said.

“It is an illegal arrest because the ICC arrest warrant comes from a spurious source, the ICC, which has no jurisdiction over the Philippines,” he added.

Panelo pointed out that the government action would make the arresting team as well as the public officials ordering the arrest criminally liable.

The ICC has been investigating Duterte and other top officials of his administration for crimes against humanity over the killings in police operations in relation to his bloody drug war.

These deaths reached around 6,000 based on police records, but human rights groups said that the deaths were as much as 30,000, including vigilante killings.

Duterte had said he is ready to face the warrant of arrest issued by the ICC for his controversial war against illegal drugs, stressing that he would face it directly as a lawyer and would not escape in another country.

During Duterte’s term in 2019, the Philippines withdrew from the Rome Statute or the treaty that established the ICC, after the tribunal started a probe into his controversial drug war. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News