MANILA, Philippines — The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for former President Rodrigo Duterte, which was published on its website on March 11.
This contradicts claims that the ICC denied issuing a warrant for Duterte over crimes against humanity charges, or that it was not yet made public.
A TikTok video posted at 5:21 a.m. on March 12 featured a clip from a BBC News broadcast the day before in which Southeast Asia correspondent Jonathan Head stated that the ICC “has not publicized the warrant yet.”
The video included on-screen text falsely claiming the “ICC has not publish[ed] the warrant yet.”
Another TikTok video, posted at 6:23 a.m. the same day, used a clip from President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s late-night press briefing on March 11, where he explained how he received the ICC notification.
This video also falsely claimed, “ICC confirm na walang warrant” (ICC confirms there’s no warrant).
RATING: This is false.
Facts
The ICC's arrest warrant for Duterte was signed by three judges of the international tribunal on March 7 but was initially classified as “secret,” as indicated in the document.
Pre-Trial Chamber I, which issued the warrant, stated that its existence could be disclosed if necessary for its execution.
It was on March 11 when the Chamber had the document reclassified as “Public.” Local media organizations had also obtained a copy yesterday. A Google search result also indicates that the web page on the arrest warrant existed as early as five days before March 12.
According to Google, the byline date that appears with search results is “the date that Google estimates that the web page was updated or published.”
The ICC has also classified arrest warrants for other high-ranking officials under investigation as “secret.”
For instance, an arrest warrant for Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, known as “Deif,” was issued for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Israel and Palestine starting Oct. 7, 2023.
It was initially classified as secret “in order to protect witnesses and to safeguard the conduct of investigations,” the ICC stated. The tribunal added, “The Chamber considers it is also in the interest of victims and their families to be aware of the warrant’s existence.”
The same classification was applied to the ICC’s arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Why we fact-checked this
Duterte was arrested by the Philippine National Police (PNP) on the morning of March 11, shortly after returning from Hong Kong, where he spoke at a campaign rally for overseas Filipino workers.
Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon served the arrest warrant just before Duterte stepped off the plane, according to the Presidential Communications Office (PCO).
Since Duterte’s name has not yet appeared in the list of cases published on the ICC’s website, some posts have claimed the arrest warrant was fabricated and not issued by the ICC.
About 12 hours after his arrest, Duterte left the Philippines on a chartered flight to The Hague, Netherlands.
ICC spokesperson Fadi Abdullah said that once a suspect is in custody, “an initial appearance hearing will be scheduled.”