Colmenares: Duterte can seek asylum in China as ICC arrest warrant looms

Former Rep. Neri Colmenares of Bayan Muna (Photo from the Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)

MANILA, Philippines — Former President Rodrigo Duterte could seek asylum in China amid a looming arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC), a lawyer and former lawmaker said on Monday.

Former Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares, a lawyer for the families of extrajudicial killing victims and accredited counsel of the ICC, made the remark, saying that Duterte could cite political persecution as his reason for asylum.

“Yes, well, if the basis of his asylum, he might tell China it’s due to political persecution in the Philippines,” Colmenares said in an interview in Palacio del Gobernador in Manila.

“Whether China will grant it or not, that’s for them to decide,” he added.

Colmenares, however, said they will fight against this asylum.

“He can always apply for asylum on the ground of persecution, but we will fight against that. He is not persecuted here. In fact, he is very powerful here,” he said.

Duterte visited Hongkong, a special administrative region of China, over the weekend for an event of the PDP-Laban, whose Senate slate banks on the perceived popularity of the former president.

READ: Rodrigo Duterte to Hong Kong supporters: ‘If I’m detained, so be it’

The former president’s visit comes amid reported issuance of an ICC warrant of arrest against him, which the international court declined to comment on.

READ: Duterte does the inevitable, declares PH withdrawal from ICC

Colmenares further noted that while Duterte is a friend of China, the latter will still look after its interest.

“In the end, Duterte is a friend of China, they can protect him. But China will look out for its interest. If they think holding Duterte is bad for their interest, it may not be granted,” he said.

Duterte was the subject of the crimes against humanity complaint before the ICC.

In March 2018, Duterte declared the Philippines’ withdrawal from the Rome Statute or the treaty which established the ICC.

The withdrawal took effect a year after or in March 2019, but ICC retained jurisdiction over alleged crimes in the Philippines — from November 1, 2011, to March 16, 2019 — while the country was still a state party.

Duterte was the chief architect of the bloody drug war waged  during his roles as the country’s Chief Executive and as mayor of Davao City.

READ: Gov’t ‘obliged to follow’ Interpol on Rodrigo Duterte arrest

The drug war under his presidency claimed at least 6,000 lives, according to official government data. But human rights watchdogs and the ICC itself estimated the death toll under Duterte’s drug war to be between 12,000 and 30,000 from 2016 to 2019 alone, as they noted that several of these are extrajudicial killings.