Duterte camp asks SC to bring ex-president back to PH

The camp of former President Rodrigo Duterte urged the Supreme Court to bring the former leader back to the Philippines.

Duterte's daughter, Kitty, through lawyer Salvador Panelo, claimed her father was "abducted" and that Philippine law was insufficient to authorize his transfer to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The legal team contended that the Rome Statute was not yet effective in the Philippines when Republic Act No. 9851 was deliberated in 2009, and the ICC had not yet obtained its "complementary jurisdiction".

They further argued that the ICC had been weaponized and had infringed upon the former president's rights for political purposes.

The traverse comment pointed out that when the ICC prosecutor requested an investigation into the situation in the Philippines on May 24, 2021, the country had already withdrawn from the Rome Statute, with the withdrawal taking effect on March 17, 2019.

Kitty Duterte also cited the dissenting opinion of ICC Judges Perrin de Brichambaut and Gocha Lordkipanidze, who argued that the Pre-Trial Chamber had "erred in law" in concluding that the ICC still had jurisdiction over Duterte.