The sensational arrest and transfer to The Hague of former president Rodrigo Duterte by virtue of a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) has been widely hailed both by individuals and organizations in the country and abroad. They also asserted that the struggle for justice continues under the present regime of Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), on 12 March, 2025, urged the Filipino people to push to have Duterte stand trial before the ICC, demand the conviction and punishment of Duterte and his principal military and police cohorts, and pursue their quest for justice for the thousands of victims of unjust killings committed by the military, police and vigilantes under the guise of the so-called war on drugs and the brutal  political crackdown unleashed by Dutertes’ regime.

But the abuses and crimes committed by state forces are not abated and continue to run rampant under the present Marcos regime, said the CPP.

Calls to rejoin the ICC may serve as a crucial recourse for the Filipino people to hold accountable all past and future tyrants and their accomplices, and to bring them to justice for all their crimes and atrocities. But the CPP asserts that the ultimate recourse for the Filipino people remains to wage revolutionary struggle to overthrow the tyranny of big bourgeois compradors, big landlords and bureaucrat capitalists. Only by putting an end to the fascist state that employs terrorist violence to perpetuate the oppressive and exploitative semicolonial and semifeudal system, can their aspiration for genuine freedom and social justice be fully realized.

Meanwhile, The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), on 11 March 2025, also hailed the arrest of Duterte “as a victory for the Filipino people, particularly the thousands of victims of his bloody ‘war on drugs’, and his fascist attacks on the revolutionary movement. It affirms what the people have long known – that Duterte is a mass murderer who must be held accountable for his crimes. However, this does not absolve Marcos Jr. of his own blood debts as he continues the reactionary state’s counterrevolutionary war against the Filipino people.”

The ICC warrant focuses on Duterte’s “war on drugs,” but his crimes extend far beyond this. His regime carried out the systematic killing of NDFP peace consultants, aerial bombings of civilian communities, and the torture and execution of captured Red fighters (hors de combat), all in blatant disregard of the laws of war. These war crimes were not just Duterte’s policy—they remain central to the Marcos Jr. regime’s counterrevolutionary war against the Filipino people.

Among the many organizations and individuals in the Philippines who welcomed the arrest of Duterte are human rights advocacy organization Karapatan, BAYAN, Ibon Foundation and Nobel laureate Maria Ressa, while abroad are UN Special Rapporteur Mary Lawlor, Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard, and many others.