Philippine ex-President Duterte brushes off possible arrest by ICC on a trip to Hong Kong

Former President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte speaks inside the Southorn Stadium during a thanksgiving gathering organized by Hong Kong-based Filipino workers for the former populist president in Hong Kong on Sunday, March 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Vernon Yuen)

HONG KONG — An unannounced trip by former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to Hong Kong set off speculations on Sunday that he may be trying to evade a possible arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court over his bloody crackdown on drugs while in power.

Duterte and his daughter — the incumbent Philippine vice president — were the main speakers in a campaign rally at the Southorn Stadium in the busy Wan Chai commercial district for the senatorial candidates of his political party ahead of the May 12 midterm elections in the Philippines. Thousands of cheering and flag-waving Filipino expatriates packed the stadium to watch Duterte speak.

In his expletives-laden speech, Duterte touched on news reports about the ICC possibly issuing a warrant for his arrest and repeated that he was ready to be jailed.

The ICC has been investigating the large number of killings by police and gunmen under the former president’s crackdown against illegal drugs, which left thousands of mostly poor suspects dead.

Duterte has denied he authorized extrajudicial killings but he openly and repeatedly threatened to kill suspected drug dealers while in office 2016-2022.

“What was my sin?” Duterte asked in his speech in Hong Kong. “I did everything in my time so Filipinos can have a little peace and tranquility.”

“If this is my fate in life, it’s OK, I’ll accept it. I can’t do anything if I get arrested and jailed,” said the former populist president, now 79 and in poor health.

He told the crowd in jest to make small contributions for the construction of his monument, which he said should show him holding a gun.

Associated Press journalists were initially allowed to go into the stadium to cover Duterte, but they were later forced out by unidentified organizers of the event.

A senior Philippine official said the former president was scheduled to fly back to Manila on Tuesday but another senior Philippine official said Duterte has the option of extending his stay in Hong Kong. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the sensitive issue.

In the Philippine capital, Manila, Communications Secretary Jay Ruiz said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.‘s administration was ready to handle any situation arising from the issuance of an ICC arrest warrant.

“We’ve heard that an arrest warrant has been issued by the International Criminal Court against former President Rodrigo Duterte for crimes against humanity,” Ruiz said in a statement to reporters. “The government is prepared for any eventuality.

In the southern Philippine city of Davao, Duterte’s home region, additional police forces were deployed to beef up the security at the international airport and man new checkpoints. Philippine police told reporters the move was part of an exercise to ensure law enforcers would be able to handle any contingency.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has said that Philippine law enforcement agencies would be bound to fully cooperate if the ICC seeks the custody of his predecessor.

The Hague-based ICC was created in 2002 to serve as a court of last resort for the most serious international crimes: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and aggression. The ICC becomes involved when nations are unable or unwilling to prosecute crimes on their territory.

About 125 countries have signed the court’s foundational treaty, the Rome Statute, but China, which has control over Hong Kong, has not.

Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the ICC in 2019 in a move activists said was an attempt to evade accountability and prevent an international probe into the drug killings. However, the ICC still has jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed when the Philippines was a member.

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Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, contributed to this report.

The Associated Press