Senate panel initial findings: 'Glaring violation' of Duterte's rights in arrest

Senate foreign relations committee chairperson Imee Marcos released on Thursday the preliminary findings of the panel’s investigation into the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Disclosing the preliminary report at a press conference, Marcos said the committee found that there were “glaring violations on the rights” of Duterte.

“The Constitutional safeguards guaranteeing liberty and due process of law were not observed. No warrant was issued by a Philippine court. The arrest did not fall within the exceptions to a warrant arrest,” Marcos said.

“The Constitutional safeguards guaranteeing for the liberty [and] abode were also disregarded. No court order was issued mandating that the former president be taken out of the Philippines against his will,” she added. 

It likewise concluded that the Philippines had no legal obligation to arrest Duterte and turn him over to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Further, Marcos found that Duterte was deprived of the right to be visited or have conferences with immediate members when CIDG Chief Nicolas Torre III did not allow Vice President Sara Duterte to visit her father while in Villamor Airbase which she said is contrary to Republic Act 7438. 

Rome Statute

Marcos also cited Article 59 of the Rome Statute when she reported that Duterte was denied the right to be brought to judicial authorities.

Apart from this, Marcos said the former president was denied the right to apply for an interim release under the same Article of the Rome Statute on the right to apply for bail under prevailing jurisprudence on extradition.

It likewise concluded that the Philippines had no legal obligation to arrest Duterte and turn him over to the International Criminal Court.

The Marcos-led panel derived its conclusion from the admission that the Philippine government only received a diffusion notice and not a red notice from the International Criminal Police Organization or the Interpol.

“No verification by the Interpol whether the request complied with Article 3 of their constitution, forbidding Interpol from undertaking any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious, or racial character,” Marcos said.

“Under the terms of the Diffusion Notice, there was no obligation on the part of the Philippines to turn over Former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to the ICC, absent any request for extradition or request for surrender,” she added.

Marcos pointed out in the panel findings that “there is no indication” that the ICC even requested for the surrender or extradition of the former president after his provisional arrest.

“The argument of Secretary of Justice [Jesus Crispin] Remulla is deeply flawed. In as much as International Humanitarian Law, customary law cannot apply. He is accused of crimes against humanity not war crimes. IHL refers to war crimes,” she said.

“IHL is international customary law, but the jurisdiction of ICC cannot be considered customary under IHL,” she added.

Further, the Marcos-led panel inferred that the Philippine government “decided to assist” the ICC to arrest Duterte.

She noted that the administration had already started preparations before Duterte was arrested on March 11, with the Philippine National Police’s mobilization of its units a day before and National Security Advisory Eduardo Año tracking the former president before the actual arrest.

“The claim of the Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Juanito Victor Remulla, Jr. that the supposed “group effort” was only based on rumors is incredible. This attempt to cover up what was already aired on media and what had already come to pass was an indication of a comprehensive plan to arrest the former president already being in place even before the date indicated in the ICC warrant of March 11,” she said.

'Clear' context

Answering questions from the media, Marcos said the context of the arrest is “clear” which she noted to have coincided with the feud between the group of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte.

“Sa palagay ko maliwanag na may konteksto at talagang sumasabay sa alitan at pagwawalang tiwala noong dalawang panig itong mga pagbabago sa legal processes and our international stand,” she said, citing the remarks of Justice Secretary Remulla on changing of minds on ICC stand.

(I think, it is clear that there is a context and the changing of legal processes and international stand coincided with the feud and the deterioration of trust between the two parties.)

Currently, Senator Marcos said it is not yet certain if the Senate investigation will continue, maintaining that the purpose of the probe is to “clarify” the process as there are more warrant of arrests that are expected to come.

“Alam din natin na hindi pa tapos ito kasi nga may mga warrant pa na ilalabas. Alam natin na may lima ng naririnig tayo na laman nung ikalawang warrant na mula sa ICC. Kung tama ba ang proseso or kung hindi tama ang proseso, hindi na dapat maulit,” she said.

(We know that this is not over yet because there are other warrants that are expected to come. We heard about five arrest warrants from the ICC. Whether the process of arrest was proper or not, that should not happen again.)

Not anti-administration

The presidential sister insisted that the hearing was not anti-administration. She said that if Vice President Sara Duterte did not join the hearing via teleconferencing, the resource persons were all from the government side.

“Hindi ko naman intensyon na anti-administration ‘yung hearing. As a matter of fact… halos lahat ng testigo ay galing gobyerno. Hindi ko naman alam ‘yung mga sagot nila kaya nga ako nagtatanong kasi di ko alam yung sagot,” she said.

(It is not my intention for the hearing to be anti-administration. In fact, majority of the resource persons are from the government. I have no control over their testimonies.)

“Nung hindi sila magkasundo at hindi tumutugma yung mga sagot nila eh hindi maganda ‘yung itsura ng pamahalaan eh nagalit yata sa akin na nabunyag yun sa aking hearing,” she added.

(When their answers did not align, it did not appear good to the administration. Apparently, the revelations in the hearing made them mad at me.)

According to Senator Marcos, she has not talked to her brother for a long time.

“Maraming humaharang. Matagal na. Nakikita ko lang tuwing public events,” she said.

(There are a lot of people who prevent us from talking. I only see him in public events.)

Despite this, the lawmaker said she will always be the president’s “manang” or older sister. — RSJ/ VAL, GMA Integrated News