DILG chief: OP paid for Duterte jet

MANILA, Philippines —  The Office of the President  (OP) paid for the chartered plane used to bring former president Rodrigo Duterte to The Hague in the Netherlands, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla confirmed yesterday.

“The plane was chartered by the Office of the President. We brought him straight to the Netherlands at 11:03 (p.m. Tuesday) wheels up. We surrendered him to the International Criminal Court (ICC),” Remulla said in an interview with ANC.

He did not mention who owns the private jet with tail number RP-C5219 and how much the OP paid for the chartered flight.

Remulla also contradicted the claim of Vice President Sara Duterte that the action of the Marcos administration was a blatant affront to the country’s sovereignty.

“Is it a foreign power? Yes. It (ICC) is considered a foreigner, but is it a foreign sovereign entity? It is not. It is a tribunal court composed of nationals from different countries. Did we submit him to a foreign leader? We did not… It is a tribunal court. They can argue their case there and we welcome it,” he said.

According to Remulla, the government, through the Department of Justice (DOJ), is conducting a separate investigation on the reported extrajudicial killings done during Duterte’s war on drugs.

“The rule of the DOJ is that they will not present a case without certainty of conviction and they were gathering evidence and they were about to file a case. There were no cases in court, (because) they were (still) investigating. The warrant was served (by the ICC),” he said.

Remulla also refuted the claim of lawyer Raul Lambino that the government failed to follow proper procedure in serving the warrant on Duterte.

“I find it amusing that Atty. Lambino keeps on insisting on the rights of the former president. What about the rights of the 30,000 who have summarily been killed without judicial action, without any judicial charges? Thirty thousand victims were killed without any due process. If they argue technicalities, I welcome them bringing it to the courts, but were the 30,000 allowed to go to the courts? Were the 30,000 read their rights? Were they allowed to plead their case?” Remulla said, referring to the number of people allegedly killed during the war on drugs.

Co: Jet Not mine’

Meanwhile, Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Zaldy Co belied rumors that he is in The Hague and that he owns the Lear jet that ferried Duterte to the Netherlands.

“I would like to stress that I do not own the RP-C5219 Gulfstream G550 aircraft… Social media posts linking me to this aircraft are completely untrue,” Co said in a statement.

Co also denied any involvement with the ICC, branding the posts on social media as “fake news.”

“I categorically deny the false information circulating online regarding my alleged involvement with the (ICC) and my supposed trip to The Hague… I have no connection to the ICC, nor am I in The Hague, Netherlands,” he said.

Co confirmed, though, that he traveled abroad for a scheduled meeting in Rome and that this has nothing to do with the ICC.

“My travel records clearly show that I departed Manila on Emirates Flight EK333 to Dubai on March 11, 2025 and proceeded to Rome on Emirates Flight EK0097 on March 12. Any claims suggesting that I am in The Hague or any location other than Rome are entirely false,” Co said.

He added that “certain individuals are actively spreading fake news” against him and his other colleagues in the House of Representatives.

“I believe this is a concerted effort to divert the public’s attention from the real issue,” Co said. –  Delon Porcalla, Jose Rodel Clapano