Lawmakers from the House of Representatives’ minority bloc have expressed elation over the International Criminal Court (ICC) decision to reject former President Rodrigo Duterte’s appeal for an interim release, saying that this is a brand of justice not often felt locally.
ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio, in a statement on Friday, said that news of ICC denying Duterte’s appeal is uplifting, noting that it is a breath of fresh air for a country that does not often see high-ranking officials held accountable.
Duterte has been detained at ICC’s headquarters in the Hague, the Netherlands since March 2025, after local authorities assisted the International Criminal Police Organization in enforcing an arrest order. The warrant was for a crime against humanity of mass murder case filed against the former president by relatives of drug war victims.
‘We’re happy. It uplifts your emotions. So this is how it feels when justice, which is rarely experienced in the country, is attained. It is only right for Duterte to remain at the Hague until the end of his trial for the killing of thousands of Filipinos in the name of his fake war against illegal drugs,’ Tinio, a deputy majority leader, said in Filipino.
Furthermore, Tinio warned that Sen. Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa, Duterte’s top police chief who enforced the war against illegal drugs, will be next.
Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla recently claimed that an arrest order has been issued by the ICC against dela Rosa, for the same cases that have been filed against Duterte.
‘Bato, you’re next,’ Tinio said.
Akbayan party-list Rep. Percival Cendaña, meanwhile, noted that the denial of Duterte’s interim release bid is timely as the country celebrates Children’s Month, noting that several of the questionable drug war deaths involved minors.
‘On no less than Children’s month, the forces of justice in the universe decided to dismiss Duterte’s appeal for interim release. He should be held accountable for the lives of the children who died during the drug war,’ Cendaña said.
‘This is justice for Myca, 3 years old; Danica Mae, 5 years old; Skyler, 4 years old; and thousands of war on drugs victims,’ he added.
Cendaña was referring to Myca Ulpina, the three-year-old child who was killed in an anti-drug operation conducted by the Philippine National Police in Rodriguez, Rizal last July 2019.
Dela Rosa was criticized after Ulpina’s death as he said that while police officers do not want to harm innocent civilians, there are cases when ‘shit happens.’
Aside from Ulpina, there are other incidents where minors died during anti-drug operations, which relatives blamed on the wrong enforcement of arrest orders or an erroneous hot pursuit operation.
In August 2017, 17-year-old Kian delos Santos was killed despite not being the original target of an anti-drug operation in Caloocan City. He was shot point-blank, even if camera footage showed him pleading for his life.
Two days before delos Santos was killed, the bodies of 19-year-old Carl Angelo Arnaiz and 14-year-old Reynaldo ‘Kulot’ de Guzman were found in different areas – Arnaiz at a funeral in Caloocan City, and de Guzman, in a creek in Nueva Ecija. Such incidents became the basis for personalities who sued Duterte for alleged crimes against humanity charges, before the ICC.
Earlier, the ICC Appeals Chamber ordered Duterte to remain in detention while proceedings on his crimes against humanity case continue, upholding the earlier decision of the Pre-Trial Chamber I – which found that Duterte’s release would pose risks to witnesses, the evidence, and the integrity of the investigation.
The Pre-Trial Chamber I also rejected the defense’s argument that Duterte should be released for humanitarian reasons.