‘Operation Pursuit': Inside the High-Stakes Arrest of Rodrigo Duterte
The visit had been advertised for weeks. Former President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines was going to a rally in Hong Kong during the second weekend in March. But as soon as it began, the trip took on a tantalizing element of intrigue: Was he ever coming back?
To many Filipinos, it appeared that Mr. Duterte was trying to outrun justice. The International Criminal Court, a sudden swirl of speculation in the Philippines posited, was about to seek his arrest, years after it started investigating the deadly antidrug campaign he had overseen as president and as mayor of Davao. By being in Hong Kong, the theory went, Mr. Duterte would remain free because China is not a member of the court.
Soon after Mr. Duterte, 79, landed in Hong Kong on March 7, the I.C.C. issued a sealed warrant for him. But wind of the move reached him.
Over that weekend in Hong Kong, his entourage — which included his partner, Honeylet Avanceña, and daughter Sara Duterte, the current vice president — debated whether to stay in Chinese territory or return home, according to two Philippine officials and a former lawmaker who spoke on the record and cited Philippines intelligence.
Salvador Panelo, his lawyer, disputed that account, saying Mr. Duterte had not even discussed seeking asylum in China. 'Why would Duterte escape?' he said. 'At his age, he no longer cares about what is going to happen to him.'
In public, Mr. Duterte stuck to his usual bluster. At the rally that Sunday, he told a throng of mostly Filipino women that if being arrested by the I.C.C. was his fate in life, he would accept it. His allies made pronouncements that he would be back in the Philippines that Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.
It was a bluff.
Mr. Duterte's group had booked five flights back to Manila that day to obfuscate their actual arrival. And there was a private jet waiting at the airport for Mr. Duterte, presumably to take him on to his stronghold of Davao in the south, said Police Maj. Gen. Nicolas Torre III and Antonio Trillanes, a former senator who filed a complaint against Mr. Duterte with the I.C.C. in 2017. (Mr. Panelo, Mr. Duterte's lawyer, denied this.)
Mr. Duterte landed around 9:30 a.m., hours before his camp had telegraphed. But he was detained soon after and, by the end of the day, shipped off to The Hague, where he is awaiting trial.
This account of that day, much of it previously unreported, is based on recollections from General Torre, Mr. Trillanes and Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla, as well as public statements from Mr. Duterte and interviews with three of his allies.
It was perhaps the most high-profile arrest for the I.C.C. For the relatives of the tens of thousands of victims of Mr. Duterte's drug war, it was, finally, a tangible step toward justice. And it is likely to define the presidency of the current leader, Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. Thousands of protesters have since accused Mr. Marcos of persecuting Mr. Duterte, his predecessor and onetime ally.
The gravity of the day seemed clear to Mr. Marcos. 'There is no reason to be happy,' Mr. Marcos told Mr. Remulla. 'We shouldn't celebrate.'
An 80-Page Plan
Mr. Marcos was elected president in 2022, succeeding Mr. Duterte. He rose to power after forming an alliance with Sara Duterte, who won the race for vice president. Initially, he said that he would not cooperate with the I.C.C.'s investigation of Mr. Duterte's drug war because his predecessor had withdrawn the Philippines from the court.
But relations between Mr. Marcos and Ms. Duterte soured soon, and he changed course on the I.C.C. In 2024, the Philippine Congress started an inquiry into the former president's war on drugs. But Mr. Duterte still seemed untouchable, years after he first condoned thousands of summary executions.
Justice, many Filipinos hoped, would come from overseas. Mr. Marcos's government was also expecting the I.C.C. to seek Mr. Duterte's arrest. The Philippine police had prepared a secret 80-page plan called 'Operation Pursuit' on how to detain Mr. Duterte. It included scenarios of arresting him in Manila or Davao, according to a copy that was viewed by The New York Times.
It also had maps of properties belonging to Mr. Duterte, his partner and his allies, with arrows labeling the nearby streets.
In The Hague, I.C.C. prosecutors applied for a warrant for Mr. Duterte on Feb. 10, accusing him of crimes against humanity. It was issued nearly four weeks later and the Philippine authorities received it via Interpol early on March 11. That cleared the way for Mr. Duterte's detention because the Philippines was still a member of Interpol.
At about 9.30 a.m., Mr. Duterte landed in Manila on Cathay Pacific flight 907. Mr. Duterte, who often uses a cane, was waiting for his wheelchair when an official boarded the plane and told him that he would be arrested on an Interpol warrant on behalf of the I.C.C.
'You would have to kill me first, if you are going to ally with white foreigners,' he told the official.
'My Children Will Go After You'
But Mr. Duterte did not offer much resistance and was sent on a bus with a police escort to Villamor Air Base near the airport. There he waited in the presidential lounge where he had once greeted dignitaries including former Secretary of State Michael Pompeo.
Mr. Duterte's lawyers tried to delay the reading of his rights so that he would not be taken into custody, and his wife refused for Mr. Duterte to get a checkup by a government doctor, according to General Torre.
After the police officer formally arrested him, Mr. Duterte said: 'You will retire one day, and my children will go after you.'
About 90 minutes after Mr. Duterte had landed in Manila, Mr. Marcos's office in Malacañang Palace announced the arrest.
But Mr. Duterte continued to argue that the I.C.C. had no jurisdiction in the Philippines.
'You should prosecute me in the Philippine courts, with a Filipino judge and a Filipino prosecutor,' Mr. Duterte told General Torre and other police officers, according to a video shared by his daughter Veronica Duterte. 'You know this is politics.'
The government was racing to fly Mr. Duterte on a chartered flight to the Netherlands to avoid any possible civil unrest.
Mr. Duterte's allies tried to get the Supreme Court to intervene, arguing that his detention was illegal and unconstitutional. Their request was filed three minutes before the court closed for the day.
International Obligations
To outsiders, Mr. Duterte's fate seemed unclear as the hours ticked by. Inside the lounge, Mr. Duterte sat on the presidential chair, the same one that Mr. Marcos uses now, and had rice and barbecued meat with a Coca-Cola.
In the meantime, the government was caught up in a bureaucratic nightmare. Officials needed to secure permission from other nations so the chartered plane could fly in their airspace en route to The Hague. Vietnam, the first country on their list, took three hours to respond. Another delay came because officials in Oman and the United Arab Emirates had shortened their working hours for Ramadan.
Mr. Duterte then asked to see Sara Duterte, the vice president, a request the authorities rejected. At around 9.40 p.m., Ms. Duterte turned up at the base, but guards turned her away. She told reporters there that her father's arrest was a 'state kidnapping.'
Inside, General Torre asked Mr. Duterte to move toward the plane. But Salvador Medialdea, Mr. Duterte's former executive secretary, stepped between the two men, trying to physically shield the former president. General Torre then arrested Mr. Medialdea for obstruction of justice, handcuffing him personally, and sent him to the plane.
General Torre then turned to Mr. Duterte to say: 'It is time. If I have to bodily carry you to the jet, I would.'
Mr. Duterte complied. His daughter Veronica and his partner, Ms. Avanceña were in tears. Mr. Duterte and Ms. Avanceña hugged. At 11:03 p.m., he was in the air, accompanied by a retinue that included two doctors, a nurse, three police officers and Mr. Medialdea.
About 15 minutes later, Mr. Marcos addressed the nation from Malacañang Palace on the banks of the Pasig River. He rejected the notion that Mr. Duterte's arrest was political, saying, 'This is what the international community expects of us as the leader of a democratic country that is part of the community of nations.'
After his speech, Mr. Marcos boarded his bulletproof boat to head back to his residence. The river was calm, and, behind him, the lights of the palace were twinkling.
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