The arrest warrant was delivered to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. of the Philippines in Manila at 3 a.m. Tuesday. The particular person named on it: his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, the firebrand whose war on drugs left thousands of people dead.
However appearing on the warrant from the International Criminal Court was not easy, for the reason that Philippines shouldn’t be a member of the courtroom. So at 6:30 a.m., Mr. Marcos’s authorities obtained one other warrant for Mr. Duterte, this time from Interpol, which was appearing on the courtroom’s behalf and of which the Philippines is a member.
Mr. Marcos recalled his subsequent step in an tackle to the nation on Tuesday. “OK, we’ll put all our plans into place, and let’s proceed as we had mentioned,” he relayed having advised the top of his justice division.
Only a few hours later, Mr. Duterte — who lengthy appeared above the regulation — was arrested in Manila. By the top of the day, he had been placed on a aircraft sure for The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity.
It was a swift coda to a protracted chapter of impunity within the Philippines. Solely a handful of individuals have been convicted in reference to the killings in Mr. Duterte’s drug warfare, by which as many as 30,000 are estimated to have died. Now, the person who publicly took credit score for the carnage was being despatched to a courtroom of regulation to face justice, partly due to a shift in political winds.
Mr. Marcos, the son of the dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, rose to energy after forming an alliance with Sara Duterte, a daughter of Mr. Duterte’s. Operating on a platform of nationwide unity, they received the presidency and vice presidency in 2022. However their marriage of comfort began unraveling shortly, pushed by distrust.
