Duterte’s China asylum bid rejected?

MANILA, Philippines —  Former president Rodrigo Duterte allegedly applied for asylum in China but was rejected, forcing him to return to the Philippines.

A GMA 7 report cited information from an unimpeachable source that as early as January, the government already planned the arrest of Duterte once the arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) was released.

The source of GMA News said the Philippine National Police (PNP) dubbed the mission as “Oplan Tugis.”

According to the source, PNP chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil directed Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) chief Maj. Gen. Nicolas Torre III to arrest Duterte as soon as the warrant of arrest from ICC was issued.

The source added that when Duterte left for Hong Kong on March 7 to attend an event for overseas Filipino workers, the arrest warrant against him was issued by the ICC Pre-trial Chamber 1.

The PNP-CIDG closely coordinated with the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) to serve the warrant of Duterte.

The source said the PNP-CIDG wanted to arrest Duterte in Hong Kong, but the Hong Kong police refused to cooperate as China is not a member of the ICC or state party of the Rome Statute.

The source added that four CIDG agents were deployed to monitor the movement of Duterte while in Hong Kong.

According to the source, it was on March 11 when Duterte decided to return to the Philippines after China allegedly rejected his plea of asylum.

The source added that Hong Kong police even monitored Duterte to make sure he would return to the Philippines.