Senator Imee Marcos, the sister of President Ferdinand Marcos, announced on Monday that the investigation was “urgent.” Before May’s midterm elections, Duterte’s arrest and deportation have shook the nation’s political landscape.
Senator Marcos, the head of the Senate’s foreign relations committee, said it is crucial to establish whether due process was followed and ensure that his legal rights were respected as well as upheld.
She stated that “our sovereignty and legal systems must continue to be of the highest priority,” noting that the arrest “has deeply divided the country.”
Police and other government officials have been invited to give evidence at the Senate’s scheduled public hearing on Thursday.
Duterte is the first former Asian leader to be charged by the ICC. In connection with his alleged “war on drugs,” which killed thousands of people while he was in office from 2016 to 2022, he is accused of crimes against humanity, including murder.
In 2022, the Marcos and Duterte families formed a political alliance that led to Sara Duterte becoming Duterte’s daughter Sara running for president.
However, the marriages have since experienced a dramatic rift.
The Duterte family has demanded that the president be removed. Due to alleged corruption and an assassination plot against Marcos Jr., Sara Duterte has been impeached.
Former President Duterte himself had suggested bombing senators in one of the recent campaign attacks prior to the midterm elections.
Duterte was detained on March 11 at the Manila airport, where he was handed over to the ICC. The former president withdrew from The Hague-based court in 2019, according to the Philippines, because Interpol had requested it.
Duterte’s supporters have organized a number of protests nationwide, calling for his release and return.
Senator Imee Marcos has followed a course largely independent of her brother throughout the infighting, despite her campaigning for re-election as the administration candidate in the midterm elections.
She had challenged the wisdom of “poor President Duterte’s arrest” hours after the arrest, warning that “this can only lead to trouble.”
Members of the Duterte family had previously threatened to withhold their support for her re-election, and polls currently indicate that she could lose her Senate seat in May’s election.
Source: Aljazeera
Leave a Reply