A Gulfstream G550 plane believed to carry former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is seen after landing at Rotterdam The Hague Airport, following Dutertre’s arrest on an International Criminal Court warrant tied to his deadly crackdown on drugs, on March 12, 2025. The 79-year-old faces a charge of “the crime against humanity of murder”, according to the ICC, for a crackdown that rights groups estimate killed tens of thousands of mostly poor men, often without proof they were linked to drugs. —Photo by John Thysa | Agence France-Presse
MANILA, Philippines — The Office of the President (OP) paid for the chartered plane that brought former President Rodrigo Duterte to The Hague in the Netherlands.
Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla confirmed this information on Thursday.
“The plane is chartered by the Office of the President. We brought him straight to the Netherlands,” Remulla said in an interview on ANC’s ‘Headstart.’
READ: ‘Flight carrying Duterte to The Hague most tracked worldwide’
When asked how much the OP paid for the flight and who the owner of the jet is, Remulla told INQUIRER.net, “All I know is that it’s a leased plane for [the] use of the president. It is based on usable flying hours.”
“The option only came up at 10 a.m. Tuesday. I didn’t ask anymore about other details. At that time, PRRD (President Rodrigo Roa Duterte) had just landed,” he said in a Viber message.
READ: Rodrigo Duterte: The Hague, what awaits him there?
Crimes against humanity
Duterte was arrested on Tuesday based on an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant against him for alleged crimes against humanity supposedly committed during his administration’s war on illegal drugs.
He was flown out of Villamor Air Base in Pasay City on Tuesday evening aboard a Gulfstream jet plane with the tail number RP-C5219.
READ: Rodrigo Duterte follows ICC hearing over drug war case via videolink
Ownership of the plane had been the subject of speculation online since it was used to transport Duterte to The Hague.
Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Elizaldy Co denied suspicions on social media that he owned the Gulfstream jet.