Human rights lawyers and drug war victims’ advocates issued a joint statement Saturday calling for the continued detention of former President Rodrigo Duterte at the International Criminal Court (ICC) and demanding the immediate surrender of fugitive Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa to The Hague.
The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) and Rise Up for Life and for Rights, represented by attorneys Neri Javier Colmenares and Kristina Conti, said the actions and statements of Duterte’s allies only reinforced the urgency of holding both men accountable before the international tribunal.
“Cayetano, current Senate President and Duterte’s former foreign affairs secretary, is the embodiment of a DDS supporter — self-righteous, inflexible, and deliberately misleading,” the lawyers said, adding that Cayetano’s characterization of the drug war as a “pro-life” campaign was “outright disinformation and an absolute insult to the thousands of dead and their kin.”
The statement came amid a rapidly escalating political and legal crisis in Manila. Cayetano, a known Duterte loyalist, was installed as Senate president on May 11 — a vote that was pushed over the line by dela Rosa himself, who had been in hiding for months before his dramatic reappearance to cast the decisive ballot. Cayetano had previously served as the Philippines’ foreign affairs secretary and was the principal architect of the country’s 2018 withdrawal from the ICC.
The NUPL and Rise Up said Duterte’s outright rejection of the ICC’s authority justified keeping him in detention, warning that granting him interim release would endanger victims through his potential freedom of movement and communications. Duterte’s new defense counsel, Peter Haynes, has filed a petition citing the former president’s deteriorating health as grounds for interim release.
The lawyers also warned that failing to enforce the ICC arrest warrant against dela Rosa would jeopardize both men’s cases — including any future appeal for provisional release. Dela Rosa, 64, faces charges of crimes against humanity over his alleged role as top enforcer of Duterte’s bloody anti-drug campaign, in which thousands were killed. He fled the Senate compound amid reported gunfire after NBI agents attempted to serve the warrant, and has continued to insist that the ICC lacks jurisdiction without approval from local courts.
“We have long been waiting for Duterte and Bato to reunite in an ICC jail cell,” Rise Up members said. “Their days of freedom are over.”
The groups condemned the Duterte camp’s continued disrespect for the ICC process, saying that drug war victims had spent years gathering evidence and arguing their case before a recognized international authority — only to see those responsible continue to evade accountability with the help of political allies in power.
