Hail Mary: Lawyers make last-ditch effort to stop Duterte's transfer to The Hague

MANILA, Philippines — Former President Rodrigo Duterte’s lawyers rushed to the Supreme Court on Tuesday evening, March 11, as he was about to board a plane to The Hague.

Lawyers Israelito Torreon and Raul Lambino went to the high court following rumors that it had granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) on Duterte and Sen. Bato Dela Rosa’s petition to halt the government’s cooperation with the International Criminal Court (ICC) and secure Duterte’s immediate release.

"We came here to obtain a hard copy of the alleged TRO," Torreon said in an ambush interview on Tuesday evening.

Torreon also said that they had filed a reiterative motion for the issuance of a TRO through the high court’s electronic filing system.

However, as of writing, reports show that the former president has already boarded the plane to The Hague.

SC includes case in special raffle, no TRO issued

Earlier, Duterte and Dela Rosa, through Torreon, filed a petition before the Supreme Court seeking to halt the government’s cooperation with the ICC and declare it unconstitutional.

Following the petition, the Supreme Court announced that the case had been included in a special raffle.

According to Supreme Court Spokesperson Camille Ting, a special raffle is conducted when a petition seeks a TRO or involves an "urgent extraordinary" pleading such as habeas corpus or amparo that cannot be included in the regular raffle.

The special raffle assigns the case to a member-in-charge—a Supreme Court justice who will then recommend an action to the court.

However, despite the case being raffled, the Supreme Court did not issue a TRO.

Duterte’s arrest

The former president was arrested at Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 on Tuesday morning.

The arrest warrant was served by Prosecutor General Richard Fadullon. According to Malacañang, the ICC warrant was transmitted to the Philippine government early Tuesday morning.

The ICC warrant cited Duterte’s "alleged criminal responsibility" for crimes against humanity (murder) to extrajudicial killings under his administration.

The charges cover incidents that reportedly occurred between Nov. 1, 2011, and March 16, 2019.

Philippine government records estimate around 6,000 deaths under Duterte’s war on drugs, while human rights groups claim the toll could be as high as 30,000, primarily affecting small-time drug users and pushers.