Saadet Gokce
03 April 2025•Update: 04 April 2025
ISTANBUL
Philippines Senator Imee Marcos claimed Thursday that the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte was pre-planned as officials from the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr refused to testify before a Senate committee.
“It is clear that the Philippines helped and truly showed participation. This has been planned for a long time, so we wonder why our officials are denying that this happened,” the elder sister of Marcos Jr said as she presided over the second hearing of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations about Duterte’s arrest, according to the Filipino SunStar News.
Duterte faces trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity during his so-called “war on drugs.“ He was arrested March 11 as he returned from Hong Kong and was immediately transported to The Hague in the Netherlands, where he remains in the custody of the ICC.
Marcos also added that she wonders why “the administration is claiming it did not help the ICC,” and asked, “Why did the ICC prosecutor cite the following document as part of the evidence?”
“It's difficult to obtain these documents, especially bank documents, even from high offices or officials, but how did the ICC get them if, according to the words and declarations of the administration, it would not lift a finger to help the ICC? Why is it that everything requested is also the same evidence presented by the ICC?” asked Marcos.
She said it is “very hard to believe” that, with the large funds allocated to intelligence branches of law enforcement and the presidential office, those agencies were unaware of the ICC officials’ actions in the country.
“It is clear that the Philippines helped and truly showed participation. This has been planned for a long time, so we wonder why our officials are denying that this happened,” said Marcos.
The hearing also cited an alleged "Operation Pursuit," which was organized beforehand, including an 80-page police directive that planned to apprehend Duterte, seize his assets and target his partner, according to ABS-CBN News.
No officials from the Marcos Jr administration attended the hearing, according to Brigada News.
Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said in a letter to the Senate that the administration "thinks the arrest matter has been already discussed."
Bersamin added that officials involved in Duterte’s arrest had already submitted their testimony.
