On March 28, the 80th birthday of former Philippine Rodrigo Duterte, Filipinos at home and abroad came out to the streets to welcome his imprisonment and trial in the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague, in the Netherlands.

In the Philippines, thousands demonstrated in Manila and other major cities calling for justice for the victims of Duterte’s bloody drug war.

Members of the Rise Up for Life and for Rights—an organization of families of victims of extrajudicial killings under former president Rodrigo Duterte’s so-called drug war—gathered on March 28, to join the protest in Manila coinciding with his birthday.

Since Duterte’s arrest on March 11, families of the victims were filled with hope because of the probability that Duterte will now be held accountable for his brutal crimes against their family members.

In the Netherlands,  an alliance that seeks to organize efforts to prosecute people linked to the alleged abuses in his administration’s war on drugs was launched during Duterte’s birthday.

The Duterte Panagutin Europe Network, composed of anti-Duterte individuals and organizations based in the continent, gathered in The Hague and lit candles to mourn the thousands of victims of alleged extrajudicial killings.

On the other hand, followers of Duterte, in their desperate effort to conjure an illusion that majority of Filipinos are against the arrest and trial of their idol in the ICC, launched a campaign in the Philippines and other countries to demonstrate that they are against the ICC jurisdiction of Duterte’s case and that he should be returned home.

But the real sentiment of the Filipino people is reflected in a series of surveys in the Philippines.

In December 2023 the Social Weather Station (SWS) poll showed most Filipinos supported an ICC probe into drug-related killings during the Duterte administration.

Results of the poll conducted last December 10 to 14, 2024 showed that 55% of adult Filipinos are in favor of the government cooperating with the probe into alleged crimes against humanity committed during the previous administration’s anti-illegal drugs campaign.

Another SWS  survey conducted last Feb. 15 to 19, 2025 showed that most Filipinos believe former president Rodrigo Duterte should be held accountable for his bloody war on drugs.The poll showed 51 percent of respondents agreed that Duterte should be held accountable for drug war killings.

In a related development, on April 1, 2025, the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) strongly condemns the harassment and threats perpetrated against the families of victims of Rodrigo Duterte’s war on the poor.

Families of the victims have reported that since Duterte was arrested by the ICC on March 11, their members have received death threats, while online hate speech against them has spiked. These are clearly funded and supported by the Duterte camp in an attempt to silence and intimidate the victims to not testify as witnesses or cooperate with the ICC.