Six weeks in the past, a van piled excessive with flowers pulled up on the Worldwide Felony Court docket’s detention heart in The Hague. The court docket additionally acquired deliveries of birthday playing cards. Heaps and plenty of them.
They had been all for the most recent inmate, Rodrigo Duterte, a former president of the Philippines, who turned 80 on March 28. The tributes had been proof of his enduring reputation there, although he’s accused of crimes in opposition to humanity for ordering a brutal antidrug marketing campaign during which tens of thousands of people died.
“The place was inundated with flowers, and I introduced among the mail out as a result of they didn’t know what to do with it,” Nicholas Kaufman, Mr. Duterte’s lawyer, mentioned in a phone interview. He mentioned he had left with three sacks of mail for Mr. Duterte that the court docket was unable to vet. Within the Philippines, 1000’s of individuals dressed within the inexperienced related to Mr. Duterte’s political social gathering flooded the streets of Davao City.
With Filipinos voting in midterm elections on Monday, Mr. Duterte appeared sure to win one other time period as mayor of Davao Metropolis, by a landslide, in accordance with an unofficial tally of partial outcomes, although if convicted he might spend the remainder of his life in jail. He was the town’s mayor for 22 years, in three separate stretches, earlier than assuming the presidency.
By 11:30 p.m., preliminary returns with 76 % of the vote counted confirmed Mr. Duterte capturing 63.3 % of the vote, far forward of his closest rival, Karlo Nograles, at 7.8 %. Election officers won’t formally announce the winners of the races till Tuesday.
Mr. Duterte’s sudden arrest and extradition to The Hague in March has divided the Philippines. Whereas some polls present {that a} majority of Filipinos again the investigation, a lot of Mr. Duterte’s supporters imagine that he’s a sufferer of political persecution by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., as soon as an ally of the Duterte clan.
Quickly after Mr. Duterte’s dramatic arrest, Mr. Marcos’s approval rating plummeted to 25 % from 42 % a month earlier, in accordance with a survey carried out by Pulse Asia. However that of Sara Duterte — the present vice chairman and daughter of Mr. Duterte — rose to 59 % from 52 %.
Ms. Duterte has lengthy been thought-about a future presidential candidate. However this election, during which half the Senate is up for grabs, might show pivotal for her. She has been impeached on fees that embody corruption, plotting to assassinate Mr. Marcos, involvement within the drug warfare killings and incitement to riot, and the nation’s 24 senators will determine this summer season whether or not to convict her.
In Davao, the place Mr. Duterte stays beloved, his dynasty is prospering. A son, Sebastian, who’s the present mayor, appeared poised to win the vice-mayoral race, in accordance with the preliminary outcomes. He’s anticipated to behave as mayor in his father’s place, because it stays unclear whether or not Mr. Duterte can take his oath from detention in The Hague. Not less than seven members of his household took commanding leads in Monday’s native election.
For the primary time ever, three political households — the Nograleses, the Garcias and the Al-ags — have mixed forces to problem the Dutertes, their former political ally, in Davao. However even Bernie Al-ag, who ran in opposition to Sebastian Duterte on this election, mentioned he was sad about Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest.
“I additionally take a look at him as a father determine,” mentioned Mr. Al-ag, who’s a former vice mayor of Davao.
Earlier than the election, Mags Maglana, an N.G.O. employee who ran for a congressional seat in opposition to Paolo Duterte, one other of Mr. Duterte’s sons, mentioned she was involved that “the outpouring of sympathy for the daddy would cascade over to the remainder of the household.” By 11:30 p.m., Ms. Maglana had obtained solely about 0.3 % of the votes.
Mr. Duterte’s camp has used his case in The Hague as a marketing campaign instrument. At a rally in Manila on Thursday, a video of his arrest was performed. His supporters wore T-shirts and carried posters that mentioned, “BRING HIM HOME.” Ms. Duterte instructed the attendees that the nation was “paying the value for electing the unsuitable chief.”
“What’s much more painful is that they managed to kidnap the previous president and hurriedly threw him into one other nation to be tried by foreigners,” she mentioned.
That different nation, the Netherlands, is much faraway from the life that Mr. Duterte is used to.
The primary challenge was the meals. (It’s unclear what precisely is served within the detention facility, however Liberia’s former president, Charles Taylor, as soon as complained that the food was too “Eurocentric.”)
Fadi El Abdallah, an I.C.C. spokesman, mentioned the court docket didn’t touch upon issues associated to the non-public lives of detainees.
Mr. Duterte mentioned he was “not used” to the meals on provide, in accordance with Mr. Kaufman, prompting the lawyer to request “culturally acceptable meals.” For Mr. Duterte, that’s rice — which he’s getting now, in accordance with Ms. Duterte.
“That’s what we requested for and it’s cooked completely,” Ms. Duterte told reporters at The Hague earlier. “Appropriate in accordance with Filipino style.”
Mr. Duterte’s household was allowed to provide him with groceries, together with his cherished Coke Zero, in accordance with Ms. Duterte. She instructed reporters that he had complained about getting Coke Zero as soon as a day, and that he wanted at the very least two cans a day.
Life is regimented. Mr. Duterte huddles with Mr. Kaufman each morning in a convention room. Within the afternoon, he meets with some members of the family. He’s allowed time to train in a fitness center that’s arrange with a court docket to play basketball, tennis and badminton. There may be one other communal house, with a foosball desk. He’s one in all six people in custody, in accordance with court docket information.
In line with Ms. Duterte, her father, who’s diabetic, has nurses monitoring him. He has entry to library books and a pc that permits him to overview his protection filings however shouldn’t be linked to the web. Within the late mornings or afternoons, he’s allowed to make phone calls to numbers which were vetted upfront. He has a tv so he can watch the information.
“Jokingly, some folks consult with it as a five-star Hilton,” Mr. Kaufman mentioned. “But it surely’s nonetheless jail.”
The small detention facility is inside a Dutch jail in The Hague. One in every of its former residents was Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo, the first former head of state to achieve trial on the court docket. He was acquitted together with one other Ivorian political chief, Charles Blé Goudé, who was represented by Mr. Kaufman.
In a filing to the court this month, Mr. Kaufman argued that there was no authorized foundation for the case in opposition to Mr. Duterte as a result of the Philippines was now not a state social gathering to the Rome Statute — the treaty that varieties the idea for the court docket’s authorized authority — when the court docket allowed an investigation into the drug warfare in September 2021. His legal professionals referred to as for Mr. Duterte’s instant and unconditional launch.
A listening to for the affirmation of fees is scheduled for Sept. 23.
In Davao, dozens of volunteers have camped out in entrance of Mr. Duterte’s home since his arrest. Janice Mahipus, 45, a web-based vendor, mentioned she had been sleeping exterior the home, first on cartons after which on a mattress a couple of meters away.
“We are going to by no means get drained ready for him,” she mentioned.
Aie Balagtas See contributed reporting.
