- OSG seeks to inhibit from Duterte’s ICC arrest case
THE OFFICE of the Solicitor General (OSG), the Philippine government’s legal counsel, has filed a “Manifestation and Motion” with the Supreme Court to withdraw from cases challenging the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrant against former President Rodrigo Duterte.
The OSG, in a document dated March 17, 2025, argued that it cannot effectively represent the respondents in the petitions for habeas corpus filed by Duterte’s family members.
The respondents include Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, DOJ Secretary Boying Remulla, PNP Chief Rommel Marbil, PMGen. Nicolas Torre III, Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra, DFA Secretary Enrique Manalo, Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco, AFP Chief Romeo Brawner, and Usec. Antonio Alcantara of the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime.
The case stemmed from the separate petitions for habeas corpus filed by Veronica “Kitty” Duterte and Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte to bring their father, who is now under the custody of the ICC, back to the country by questioning the legality of the ICC warrant.
The OSG’s central argument in its recusal is that the ICC lacks jurisdiction over the Philippines. It cited the country’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the ICC, which took effect on March 17, 2019.
The OSG maintained that the government has “no legal obligation to cooperate with the ICC nor recognize any process emanating from the ICC” following this withdrawal.
Furthermore, the OSG argued that the ICC failed to “timely exercise its jurisdiction” before the Philippines’ withdrawal. They contend that the country’s “investigative, prosecutorial, and judicial system is functioning as it should,” implying that the ICC’s intervention is unnecessary.
The OSG’s motion detailed that it received a court order on March 14, 2025, to explain within 24 hours why a writ of habeas corpus should not be issued.
However, due to its stance against the ICC’s jurisdiction, the office is “constrained to recuse itself from participating herein.”
Former presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo, who obtained a copy of the said petition, wrote on a Facebook post that “The Office of the Solicitor General (“OSG”) recuses itself from the consolidated petitions for habeas corpus of the Duterte children.”
