Duterte says he is ‘leaving things up to his destiny’

MANILA, Philippines — Former President Rodrigo Duterte has reiterated his previous promise that he will face calls for accountability on behalf of the law enforcers who implemented his bloody war against illegal drugs.

In a video uploaded on his Facebook page on Wednesday—taken from inside the Gulfstream jet that flew him from Manila to the Hague in the Netherlands—Duterte repeated his promise to police and military officers when he was still in office.

Duterte was brought to the Netherlands due to an arrest order issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is based there.

READ: Duterte takes ‘full legal, moral responsibility’ for drug war

“I think this has something to do with the law and order noon, at sinasabi ko naman sa mga pulis at military na trabaho ko ’yon, at ako ang managot. So ito na nga,” Duterte said.

(I think this has something to do with the law and order then, and I said this before to the police and military personnel that it is my job to be accountable for these things. So here it is.)

“For all of the whatever happened in the past, ako na ‘yong nag-front sa ating law enforcement pati military. Sinabi ko na I will protect you, and I will… ako ang managot sa lahat,” he added.

(For all of the whatever happened in the past, I will be at the front for our law enforcement and the military. I said that I will protect you, and I will… I will be held accountable for everything.)

Duterte also seemed to accept his fate, saying that he is leaving things up to his destiny.

“This will be a long legal proceedings, and I say to you, I will continue to serve my country, and so be it kung gano’n ang destiny ko (if that is my destiny),” he added.

Duterte, during and after his presidency from 2016 to 2022, has repeatedly said that he takes full responsibility for what happened in the drug war. At a Senate hearing last October 28, Duterte said he would take “full legal, moral responsibility” for the anti-drug campaign, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of drug suspects.

After these statements, Tingog party-list Rep. Jude Acidre and Santa Rosa City Rep. Dan Fernandez urged Duterte to fulfill his promise of providing legal assistance to police officers who implemented his drug war.

In his final State of the Nation Address, Duterte said he wants free legal assistance for policemen and soldiers, noting that he will take care of them.

READ: Free legal aid: Cops, troops to need it amid Duterte ‘kill’ orders

Acidre and Fernandez’s statements came after Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Rommel Marbil said that 214 cops faced 352 criminal cases from July 2016 to June 2022—or the period when Duterte was in office.

According to Marbil, even as the PNP promised to support police officers, many of their personnel “continued to face consequences largely on their own.”

Duterte, after coming home from Hong Kong on Tuesday morning, was stopped from leaving the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 as the Philippine National Police assisted the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) in enforcing the ICC arrest order.

The arrest order was issued due to the crimes against humanity raps filed against Duterte, for his role in the bloody drug war.

After questioning the arrest, Duterte eventually boarded a chartered plane from Villamor Air Base, which left Manila for the Netherlands a few minutes after 11:00 p.m., Tuesday.

After a layover in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the plane carrying Duterte landed in the Hague just minutes after midnight, Manila time.

READ: Plane carrying Rodrigo Duterte leaves PH for The Hague

As early as last Saturday though, there were already rumors that the ICC will release an arrest order against Duterte. During this time, Duterte and his entourage flew to Hong Kong to meet overseas Filipino workers.

While in Hong Kong, Duterte addressed talks about the arrest order, saying that his actions during the war on illegal drugs were for the Philippines’ benefit.

However, several official and independent investigations of the drug war have shown that there were many instances where innocent individuals were dragged into the anti-drug operations. In August 2017, 17-year-old Kian delos Santos was summarily executed in Caloocan City even if he was not the original target of the operation.

The three police officers involved in the killing of delos Santos were convicted of murder.