Senator Imee Marcos: Since when has PH become a province of The Hague?

Sen. Imee Marcos during one of the Senate hearings. (Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)

MANILA, Philippines —“Since when did the Philippines become [a] province of The Hague?”

This was the question that Senator Imee Marcos asked during her opening speech of the Upper Chamber’s investigation on the arrest of the Former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Senator Marcos leads the Senate’s probe on the arrest.

Marcos, who aligns herself with the Dutertes, lamented that he was made to answer to a foreign court.

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“Here we are watching as a fellow Filipino, a leader, a father, and a grandfather, a man who served this country, is taken not by his own people but by outsiders who claim to have the right to judge him,” she said during a Senate committee on foreign relations hearing.

The war against illegal drugs that took place during Duterte’s presidential term claimed at least 6,000 lives, according to official government data.

Human rights watchdogs and the International Criminal Court prosecutor estimated the death toll to be between 12,000 and 30,000 from 2016 to 2019.

They said several of these incidents were extrajudicial killings.

Marcos said that the law should prevail “but whose law? Ours or theirs?”

She stressed that Filipinos are not “slaves” to foreigners and that the country should not surrender its citizens to the jurisdiction of foreigners.

READ: ‘Duterte arrest shows ICC can go after Putin, Netanyahu’

Duterte was arrested at Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Tuesday, March 11, and detained at Villamor Air Base the same day. He has since arrived in The Hague, where he is currently being held.

The former president had his pretrial hearing on March 14, while his confirmation of charges is scheduled for September 23, and he may appeal for an interim release before that date.

Marcos said, “If they can march in our house and take one of our own, what’s stopping them from doing it again and again? To you, to me, to any of us?”

“This is bigger than Duterte,” Marcos said. “This is about our dignity as Filipinos.”

She continued: “If they can march in our house and take one of our own, what’s stopping them from doing it again and again? To you, to me, to any of us?”