Sen. Imee Marcos during one of the Senate hearings. (Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)
MANILA, Philippines — “Since when did the Philippines become [a] province of The Hague?”
Sen. Imee Marcos had this to say in her opening speech on Thursday as she led the upper chamber probe on the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte.
READ: Saving Rodrigo Duterte hard even for ‘world’s best’ lawyers – Butuyan
Marcos, who aligns herself with the Dutertes, lamented that he was made to answer to a foreign court.
“Here we are watching as a fellow Filipino, a leader, a father, and a grandfather, a man who served this country, is taken not by his own people but by outsiders who claim to have the right to judge him,” she said during a Senate committee on foreign relations hearing.
READ: Duterte, 11 others accused of crimes against humanity before ICC
The war against illegal drugs that took place during Duterte’s presidential term claimed at least 6,000 lives, according to official government data.
Human rights watchdogs and the International Criminal Court prosecutor estimated the death toll to be between 12,000 and 30,000 from 2016 to 2019.
They said several of these incidents were extrajudicial killings.
Marcos said that the law should prevail “but whose law? Ours or theirs?”
She stressed that Filipinos are not “slaves” to foreigners and that the country should not surrender its citizens to the jurisdiction of foreigners.
Duterte was arrested at Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Tuesday, March 11, and detained at Villamor Air Base the same day. He has since arrived in The Hague, where he is currently being held.
The former president had his pretrial hearing on March 14, while his confirmation of charges is scheduled for September 23, and he may appeal for an interim release before that date.
Marcos said, “If they can march in our house and take one of our own, what’s stopping them from doing it again and again? To you, to me, to any of us?”
“This is bigger than Duterte,” Marcos said. “This is about our dignity as Filipinos.”