SC to gov’t: Tell why habeas corpus writ must not be issued for Duterte
PHOTO: Official Facebook page of Rody Duterte
MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday issued a show cause order compelling several top government officials to explain why a writ of habeas corpus should not be issued for former President Rodrigo Duterte.
Duterte is currently in the custody of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hauge, Netherlands for alleged crimes against humanity.
SC Spokesperson Camille Ting made the pronouncement after acknowledging receipt of a petition filed by Davao City Rep. Paolo “Pulong” Duterte which sought the release of the former president through a writ of habeas corpus.
According to Ting, the SC consolidated Rep. Duterte’s petition with his siblings’, Sebastian and Veronica, who also filed their own petitions on Wednesday morning.
“On March 13, 2025, the SC En Banc unanimously resolved to direct respondents in the consolidated petitions to show cause within a non-extendible period of 24 hours from receipt of notice why the peremptory writ of habeas corpus should not issue,” Ting said.
The writ of habeas corpus is an order issued by a court directed to persons detaining an individual and commands them to produce the physical body of a person whose liberty is restrained and explain sufficient cause of detention.
The consolidated respondents of the three petitions are as follows:
- Executive Sec. Lucas Bersamin
- Justice Sec. Jesus Crispin Remulla
- Interior Sec. Jonvic Remulla
- Police chief Rommel Marbil
- PNP-CIDG director Nicolas Torre III
- Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra
- Former Immigration commissioner Norman Tansingco
- Foreign Sec. Enrique Manalo
- Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Romeo Brawner Jr.
- Philippine Center on Transnational Crime director Antonio J. Alcantara
- a certain Captain Johnny Gulla
Between the three petitions, Sebastian and Veronica’s focused on the writ of habeas corpus, while Rep. Duterte’s—apart from the writ—also petitioned for certiorari, and prohibition seeking to also prohibit the government from further cooperating with the ICC.
The three petitions filed by the Duterte children are one of the four currently being tackled by the SC—the other being the petition filed by the former president himself with Senator Ronald dela Rosa.
The petitions were filed after the former president was flown to The Hague in Netherlands—where the ICC is headquartered.
Now in the custody of the ICC, Duterte was arrested for crimes against humanity allegedly committed during his administration’s bloody war against drugs which left at least 6,000 people dead, with human rights groups reporting at least 20,000.
READ: ICC cites reasonable grounds in issuing arrest order for Duterte
