07/11/2025
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No Court Order, No ICC Request, No Red Notice: How Duterte Was Taken Without Legal Paper
By: Anthony Ludalvi Vista
The Morning at the Airport
On March 11, 2025, former President Rodrigo Duterte arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport from Hong Kong. Waiting there were police officers led by Major General Nicolas Torre III, head of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).
Moments later, Duterte was stopped and brought to a waiting vehicle. Within minutes, videos spread online. Many thought it was ordered by the International Criminal Court (ICC) or by Interpol, or perhaps based on a local court warrant.
By the end of that day, none of those turned out to be true. There was no court warrant, no ICC request, and no Interpol notice.
What the Law Requires
The 1987 Constitution says no person may be arrested without a warrant issued by a judge, except in three cases — if caught in the act of committing a crime, chased right after doing so, or escaping from detention.
Duterte was doing none of these. He was not a fugitive. He was not committing a crime. He was not under any court process. Without a judge’s order, there was no legal ground to arrest him.
What Torre Carried
During the Senate hearing on March 20, 2025, Police Brigadier General Ronald Lee of the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime admitted that there was no Interpol Red Notice. What the police had was a “red diffusion” — an internal alert made by the PNP’s Interpol desk, not by Interpol Headquarters in France.
He said, “It did not pass through Interpol’s General Secretariat in Lyon. It was only circulated locally.”
That means the order came from within the Philippine police, not from any international body. A red diffusion is not a warrant. It is only a message between police agencies. It gives no power to arrest anyone.
When asked what document he showed Duterte, General Torre said it was that same “diffusion.” It bore no signature of a judge or international official — only a PNP heading. On paper, it was a memo, not an order of arrest.
What the ICC Required
The ICC had issued a warrant dated March 7, 2025, but this was never sent to the Philippine government. There was no request for arrest or surrender, no diplomatic note, and no filing before any local court.
Under Article 59 of the Rome Statute, the ICC cannot simply order a country to arrest someone. It must first ask the courts of that country to review and confirm the legality of the arrest. That never happened here.
So even under international law, there was no authority for Torre to act.
What Philippine Law Says
The Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law (RA 9851) allows cooperation with international courts, but only “pursuant to applicable extradition laws and treaties.”
This means a Philippine court must first hear the case, issue the necessary order, and then allow the surrender. No such process was ever done.
Without a court case or order, RA 9851 gives no one — not even the police — any power to arrest a Filipino citizen for international crimes.
The Flight to The Hague
That same evening, Duterte was placed on a chartered flight to The Hague. He was never brought before any Philippine judge. No court authorized his transfer. No hearing was held to verify the legality of the arrest or to allow him to challenge it.
The entire operation — arrest, detention, and airlift — happened outside the supervision of the courts.
Why It Was Wrong
In law, power must always come from paper — a written authority from a court or a valid international request approved by the government.
General Torre had none. The ICC did not transmit a request. Interpol did not issue a notice. No court released a warrant. The paper he carried came from the police themselves.
Without that legal authority, the arrest violated the Constitution, the Rules of Criminal Procedure, and even the Rome Statute itself.
The Bigger Picture
This issue is not about defending Duterte. It is about the rule of law. When police act without a court order, they replace the law with discretion. That is what the Constitution was written to prevent.
Even in cases involving grave crimes, due process must still be followed. If one person — even a former president — can be taken without judicial paper, then every Filipino can be treated the same way.
In the End
General Torre acted on a document written by his own office — one that had no binding force under Philippine or international law.
In a republic governed by laws, power must always come from lawful authority. And where there is no paper, there is no power.
