SOJ Remulla to Senate panel: I cleared Duterte arrest, flight to The Hague

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin "Boying" Remulla said he gave the clearances to serve the International Criminal Court's warrant on former President Rodrigo Duterte and to fly him to The Hague to face crimes against humanity charges in connection with the killings under his administration's war on drugs.

At the hearing of the Senate inquiry on Duterte's arrest at the airport and detention at the ICC prison in the Netherlands, Remulla said the clearance given by the Department of Justice "was probably the most important part of it — to serve the warrant of arrest and to surrender the person under the law." 

“In some ways because I gave them the legal basis for all the actions that happened… If I have to be the one, if I’m the one that is being referred to," Remulla said.

"I will admit it that I gave the clearances to—number one, serve the warrant of arrest as I saw it, as I deem fit. And number two, to fly him to The Hague, to be surrendered under Section 17 of Republic Act 9851,” he added.

Duterte was flown to The Hague after his arrest and was placed in detention at The Hague Penitentiary Institution or the Scheveningen Prison on March 13 (Philippine time). 

He faced the ICC via video link the following day, where the court read to him the charges against him related to the killings under his administration's war on drugs. 

The hearing on the confirmation of charges has been set for September 23, 2025.

Remulla earlier said the senators at the hearing were “trying to make people admit” matters related to the arrest of the former president. 

Senator Imee Marcos, the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; and Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa have pressed Philippine Center on Transnational Crime Executive Director Anthony Alcantara and PNP chief Pol. Gen. Rommel Marbil to reveal who ordered the boarding of Duterte to the private jet that flew him to The Hague. 

Alcantara said that he was not the “authority” that ordered to board Duterte to the private jet.

Marbil invoked executive privilege in answering the senators’ query, prompting Dela Rosa and Marcos to scold the PNP chief. 

“Nandito na tayo eh.  Executive privilege ka d'yan,” Dela Rosa said. 

(We're already here. How can you invoke executive privilege?)

Marcos echoed this and said, “Kung sinu-sino na ang itinuro mo ngayon mag-e-executive privilege ka.” 

(You're pointing fingers and now you will invoke executive privilege.

It was at this point that Remulla butted in.

“That’s why we didn’t want to attend the last hearing because this is what we were expecting. We didn’t want to be bullied into a position,” the Justice secretary said. 

Dela Rosa and Marcos are quick to deny that they are bullying the executive officials. 

“We are not bullying you, sir,” Dela Rosa, who earlier described himself as the number two accused in the ICC case, said. 

“Nobody’s bullying you,” Marcos said. 

Remulla said that invoking executive privilege in these kinds of questions was valid. 

“I think that you are trying to make people admit something that they will not admit. An executive privilege is a valid excuse not to answer any question,” Remulla said. 

“If you’re trying to make a person admit something that should not be admitted, it means that there is something more to it,” he added. 

Duterte, Dela Rosa, and the children of the former president have questioned the arrest before the Supreme Court. –NB, GMA Integrated News