Philippine authorities confirm former president Duterte's detention

MANILA -- The Philippine Presidential Communications Office (PCO) issued a statement on Tuesday, confirming that former president Rodrigo Duterte was detained by police upon his return to Manila from abroad.

According to the PCO, Interpol in Manila received the official copy of the warrant of arrest from the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday morning.

The PCO said that the ICC prosecutor general served the arrest warrant to Duterte upon his arrival in Manila at around 9:20 am local time through Interpol.

"Government doctors have examined the former president, and he is in good health and good condition," the PCO statement said.

Duterte himself questioned his detention, asking in a video released by his family on social media: "What is the crime I committed? ... I was brought here not on my own volition. It's somebody else's."

Former chief presidential legal counsel Atty. Salvador Panelo said Tuesday the arrest of Duterte was unlawful.

"It is an illegal arrest because the ICC arrest warrant comes from a spurious source, the ICC, which has no jurisdiction over the Philippines," Panelo said in a statement.

The Philippines officially withdrew from the ICC in 2019.

During his presidency, Duterte carried out a "war on drugs", which garnered wide attention both domestically and internationally.