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| Unifil's Balladares urges justice for all victims of Duterte's bloody anti-drug campaign |
About 30 overseas Filipino workers took part in a protest outside the Philippine Consulate offices in Admiralty Wednesday, just hours after former President Rodrigo Duterte was flown to the International Criminal Court in The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity.
The protesters from Bayan Muna and Unifil-Migrante
Hong Kong said they welcomed Duterte’s arrest and impending trial over the murder
of thousands of Filipinos during his war on drugs.
“Wine-welcome
po namin ang development na ito dahil sa matagal na panahon ay ipinagkait …ang
hustisya sa mga biktima,” said Dolores Balladares of Unifil-Migrante.
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(We welcome this development because the victims
were denied justice for such a long time).
Balladares added her group will not stop protesting until
the 79-year-old former president is punished to the fullest extent of the law.
At the same time, she said President Ferdinand
Marcos, Jr. should not be swayed by the “drama” and the influence of the Duterte
family.
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“Dapat
manindigan ang gobyernong Marcos na ibigay ang totoong hustisya sa mga biktima,”
she added. (The Marcos government should remain committed to giving full
justice to the victims).
The protesters held aloft posters calling on Duterte
to be punished and for Marcos to be held accountable for not acting quickly to
ensure justice for the victims of the bloody anti-drug campaign.
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| Protesters say Duterte and Marcos are complicit to the alleged murders |
Meanwhile, reports that came in Wednesday night said the plane bearing Duterte had arrived in Rotterdam, Netherlands, where he was given a standard medical check-up before being transported by land to the ICC in The Hague.
At the ICC, he will be transferred to a detention cell where he will
stay for a few days before being brought
before a judge.
The ICC’s arrest warrant says that while he was
president between 2016 to 2022, Duterte created, funded and armed death squads that
murdered suspected drug users and dealers.
Duterte was served the warrant on Tuesday morning at
the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila after he arrived from a trip
to Hong Kong.
His family and supporters said the arrest was illegal as the Philippines is no longer a member of the ICC, but detractors who lauded the move said the warrant was valid as the alleged killings happened when the country was still with the international court.
Lawyers representing his youngest daughter Veronica
filed a petition for the writ of habeas corpus with the Supreme Court to secure
the return of her father, but the motion has yet to be acted upon.
An earlier application for a temporary restraining order to be issued on security personnel who arrested the former leader was earlier denied by the SC, which said there was no sufficient ground to support it.
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