It is possible to arrest someone for crimes against humanity

March 12, 2025 7:43 AM

Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte was arrested on an ICC warrant for crimes against humanity in Manila. According to his daughter, who is currently the country's vice president, “As I write this, he is being forcibly taken to The Hague tonight. This is not justice – this is oppression and persecution.” Internal Philippine politics made the arrest possible, as a former power-sharing agreement between the Marcos family currently in power and the Dutertes broke down.
posted by toastyk (26 comments total)

This is not justice – this is oppression and persecution

The gall Duterte's daughter has in saying this about the arrest of a man who ordered 30,000 extrajudicial murders is pretty wild.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:51 AM on March 12 [31 favorites]

Sometimes dreams really do come true.
posted by Kitteh at 7:54 AM on March 12 [7 favorites]

I would love for the ICC to become an effective body. Now do Netanyahu! And of course W.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 7:56 AM on March 12 [22 favorites]

Fantastic news.
posted by subdee at 7:57 AM on March 12 [1 favorite]

Good. So much blood on his hands.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 8:00 AM on March 12 [2 favorites]

I'd like to hear from any Filipino MeFites who can speak to the second coming of the Marcos name to national leadership

It's hard to see unalloyed good in this story when a good chunk of what happened appears very much to be opportunism on the part of Marcos
posted by ginger.beef at 8:01 AM on March 12 [11 favorites]

justice can be oppression and persecution sweetie
posted by seanmpuckett at 8:08 AM on March 12

It's hard to see unalloyed good in this story when a good chunk of what happened appears very much to be opportunism on the part of Marcos

Well, yeah. This post's headline is correct in that's possible to arrest someone for crimes against humanity, but only when it's politically convenient for the powers involved to allow it.

Now do Netanyahu! And of course W.

Netanyahu and W will go to the Hague on the same day Putin does: when the powerful in their respective nations determine it's in their interest.
posted by star gentle uterus at 8:28 AM on March 12 [11 favorites]

take the W, people! offer the obvious critiques (which I guarantee most people here are aware of) in a day ffs.

this motherfucking gleeful state-heading mass murderer was arrested by an international body concerned with upholding laws, and the prosecution of crimes against humanity.
posted by lalochezia at 9:24 AM on March 12 [8 favorites]

I think unalloyed good is scarce here, and yes, it would be good to hear a Filipino perspective here on MeFi. Nevertheless, I hope that families whose children were murdered on Duterte's orders get some measure of vindication.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 9:33 AM on March 12 [1 favorite]

speaking for myself, I'm not displeased with the news or particularly joyful re: "a win" but again, it would be great to hear from people who live, or have lived, in Philippines.

in conversation with Canadian (Filipino) friends, it's not like there is unanimity on how monstrous Duterte is/was. I appreciate that my politics aren't lined up with some of those friends. I guess I'm not interested in a MeFi circlejerk on how this news is great! Justice! it's all just a bit obvious to some of us, that way?
posted by ginger.beef at 9:34 AM on March 12 [1 favorite]

My perspective here: I met with a few other US refugees already living in Den Haag over the weekend. They had made a nice safe little home in a country that will keep us safe from the persecution back home.
I cried at the National Gay Memorial there, attended Reform services in Hebrew, and felt comforted that I may be calling a nation that houses an international court of justice, flaws and all, home.
posted by Flight Hardware, do not touch at 9:42 AM on March 12 [4 favorites]

I'd like to hear from any Filipino MeFites who can speak to the second coming of the Marcos name to national leadership

Not Pinoy, but have various in-laws who are. One family branch, that is younger, are rather Bong Bong receptive. A different branch who are older and remember the Marcos era are completely the opposite when it comes to Bong Bong, especially the idea that life was good under the Marcos regime.
posted by house-goblin at 9:59 AM on March 12 [4 favorites]

It's the disingenuousness that gals me. We know you disagree with the charges, but pretending you don't even know that he's been charged? No, the injustice was summarily executing tens of thousands of people without charge or trial. This is the consequences.
posted by 1adam12 at 10:47 AM on March 12 [2 favorites]

It would be quite unfortunate if he fell out of the airplane on the way to the Netherlands.
posted by TedW at 12:37 PM on March 12

It's hard to see unalloyed good in this story when a good chunk of what happened appears very much to be opportunism on the part of Marcos

Agreed, ginger.beef -- basically all of the Marcos family also needs to be in the Hague for this to be anything like actual justice.
posted by adrienneleigh at 12:56 PM on March 12 [4 favorites]

I hope they lock him up and throw away the key. Actually, this kind of thing is one of the few cases where I'm a proponent of the death penalty (genocide, mass killings, ethnic cleansing), but since The Hague can't impose that, life in prison will have to do.

And no, we don't need to hear from Filipinos what they think about him, just as we don't need to hear from Russians about Putin, or Israelis what they think about Netanyahu. These are crimes against humanity for a reason, if anything we should hear from the victims or their families.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 5:32 PM on March 12

And no, we don't need to hear from Filipinos what they think about him, just as we don't need to hear from Russians about Putin, or Israelis what they think about Netanyahu. These are crimes against humanity for a reason, if anything we should hear from the victims or their families.

Buddy, in the case of Duterte, his victims were mostly Filipinos. The war crimes he committed were against his own country.
posted by adrienneleigh at 6:55 PM on March 12 [11 favorites]

And no, we don't need to hear from Filipinos

Speak for yourself, please.
posted by ginger.beef at 6:09 AM on March 13 [3 favorites]

And no, we don't need to hear from Filipinos

At least someone texts the subtext. Why is a Filipino who committed crimes against Filipinos in the Philippines being tried in Europe? Stinks of colonialism to me.
posted by Wood at 7:29 AM on March 13 [2 favorites]

I mean, I'm not the most qualified person on this history, but the ICC was established to try cases that had a worldwide reverberation, crimes so large they could be said to touch all of humanity. If this cases smacks to you of colonialism, I agree in a way, since W for example has not (yet) come before the ICC for his egregious invasion of Iraq in 2003. But the Phillipines is a signatory to the agreement that created the ICC.

Here's a link to a Filipino explainer.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 7:38 AM on March 13 [1 favorite]

There are also no Palestinians posting in the I/P thread (as far as I know). Representation in MetaFilter is a larger issue than any specific post.

Anyway, Duterte's arrest was due to the machinations of another Filipino party. In the latest, Duterte released a video message stating “Whatever happened in the past, I will be the front of our law enforcement and the military. I said this already, that I will protect you, and I will be responsible for everything,” and This will be a long legal proceeding. But I say to you, I will continue to serve the country. So be it. If that is my destiny. Thank you”.

Duterte's daughter, who is currently the country's vice president, faces calls for her impeachment.

Here's some further analysis from the Conversation - And it appears ICC prosecutor Karim Khan requested the warrant on Feb. 10, so the timing wasn’t determined by Marcos.

But that isn’t to say that it isn’t fortunate timing.

There is an important midterm election in May, and Marcos is keen to use it to consolidate his power amid an ongoing feud with Vice President Sara Duterte – the daughter of the now-arrested former president.

In 2022, Sara Duterte and Marcos ran on the same ticket for vice president and president. But this coalition between two family dynasties – Bongbong Marcos is the son of former Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos and still powerful matriach of the family, Imelda – broke down rather quickly.

Fighting between Sara Duterte and Martin Romualdez, the speaker of the House of Representatives and a cousin of President Marcos, strained the relationship.

But beyond the personality issues, there has been a divergence in policy between the Dutertes and Marcoses. Notably, under Marcos Jr., the Philippines has pivoted back to the U.S. by allowing American troops back into the country and taking a more aggressive stance in regards to China in the South China Sea.
posted by toastyk at 8:34 AM on March 13 [1 favorite]

“As I write this, he is being forcibly taken to The Hague tonight. This is not justice – this is oppression and persecution.”

Let's compromise and send half of him to The Hague.
posted by AlSweigart at 10:13 AM on March 13

In 1941 Germany, the opinion of a non-German Jew about Hitler was much more relevant than the opinion of a non-Jewish German. Duterte didn't just kill Filipinos; he killed PWUD (people who use drugs). (In his speeches he called them "addicts" but I don't think he was performing diagnoses before his extra-legal killings.) He turned PWUD into Untermenschen so that he could kill them with the approval of the average Filipino.

So, we don't need to hear from Filipinos about this, unless they are PWUD. In fact, I would say that my own opinion, as a non-Filipino PWUD, is very relevant, because the international response to this arrest will have an affect on the likelihood of my human rights being violated in the future. (You could say that I have "standing".)

My opinion: let him rot in prison for the rest of his life. The bugaboo of the day, be it the "Jewish Question" or the "Drug Problem", is not a license to violate human rights. Let this be a warning to all populist leaders.
posted by The genius who rejected Anno's budget proposal. at 9:17 PM on March 13 [1 favorite]

Some thoughts in disarray, because arrest good thing, consequences goodness knows.

ICC warrant notwithstanding, he could/would not have been arrested had the current government not seen it as the perfect opportunity, plausible deniability and all, to rid itself of this turbulent ex-president. Hence the speed at which he was bundled off to The Hague. The former and current First Families have been at daggers drawn for months, so while many - myself included - see the arrest as justice being served, there are no illusions about the purity of the operation. Duterte's top henchman decried this "betrayal to the max" by the Marcoses a day after the arrest; he's probably next in line. I hope they both rot in jail and that the families of their victims get some relief.

In Du30 (or PRRD, or "Tatay" - Filipino for "father" - Digong)'s heyday, when international media outlets would translate some of his most monstrous statements, friends would ask how someone so [pick your adjective] could garner so much support after saying such things. But here's the thing: in his delivery in the original Filipino/Bisaya, he's funny, in that way that outlandish statements are funny during a late-night drinking session. Usapang lasing, or drunken talk, as we call it. And in a country where black humor is one of the biggest coping mechanisms in the face of unrelenting hardship, that connects with a lot of people. That appeal gets lost in translation.

The guy came to national prominence not because of the early iteration of his drug war in his hometown, but because of his reaction in the wake of the enormous devastation wreaked by Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) in 2013 when, visibly upset, he organized a rescue and aid operation for typhoon victims - a sharp contrast to the wooden, bureaucratic response of the Aquino government to a natural disaster of a scale that stunned a nation otherwise accustomed to extreme weather events.

The potty-mouthed strongman who, despite his *cough*excesses *cough*, had his heart in the right place, and was funny to boot? That absolutely contributed to his election win and to the foundation of the strong supporter base he has to this day. And local opposition groups downplayed or derided his loutishness to their detriment - this made it so much easier to widen the "elites-vs-regular folks" divide, and for him to further weaken the country's institutions; he's very politically savvy. The hijacking of social networks to manipulate outcomes is another huge factor (more on that in Maria Ressa's book, referenced below).

Very tough but essential reading: Patricia Evangelista's Some People Need Killing, whose opening chapters do an excellent job of providing the context for his popularity and rise to power, and Maria Ressa's How To Stand Up to a Dictator, published after she received the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize. The former earned her chops at Rappler, the investigative journalism website co-founded by the latter.

Ressa discusses some of the points made in her book on Jon Stewart's The Weekly Show (full episode here), which aired a week ago, prior to the arrest. It's especially relevant given what's going on in the US these days.

Lauren Greenfield's The Kingmaker does an excellent job of showing the true nature of her subject as well as the return of the family to power. I first watched it at home with a friend, and hurling invective at the screen was cathartic and disheartening in equal measure.)

Duterte's rule further undermined already weak institutions. Foreign interference played its part as well, and will continue to do so. (Who will it be this time, China or the US?) Marcos will undoubtedly use this to consolidate power. Whether or not things will turn violent is anyone's guess.
posted by pendrift at 6:03 AM on March 14 [5 favorites]

Thanks for the additional information pendrift. I think I had Maria Ressa in the back of my head because what you posted sounded really familiar, and I now remember reading about Rappler a while back.
posted by toastyk at 8:01 AM on March 14