Baste Duterte files charges vs Cabinet officials over dad's arrest

MANILA, Philippines — Sebastian "Baste" Duterte, son of detained former president Rodrigo Duterte, has filed criminal and administrative complaints against senior government officials over his father’s transfer to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The acting Davao City mayor lodged the complaints on Monday, September 15 at the Office of the Ombudsman in Mindanao through the former president’s lawyer, Israelito Torreon.

Slew of charges. The charges include eight counts of kidnapping and eight counts of arbitrary detention, as well as qualified direct assault, expulsion, and usurpation of judicial functions under the Revised Penal Code.

Sebastian also accused the officials of violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

On the administrative side, the complaints cite serious dishonesty, gross neglect of duty, grave misconduct, disloyalty to the Republic, oppression, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.

Officials named. Among those implicated were appointed and bureaucratic officials of the Marcos administration, namely:

• Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla
• Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro
• National Security Adviser Eduardo Año
• Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla
• Justice Undersecretary Nicholas Felix Ty
• Former Philippine National Police Chief Rommel Marbil
• Former PNP Chief Nicolas Torre III
• Markus Lacanilao, Special Envoy for Transnational Crime
• Anthony Alcantara
• Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon
• Former PNP Spokesperson PBGen Jean Fajardo

The complaint also named the private jet owner who flew Duterte to the Netherlands, along with two aircraft operators and two police officers identified as “John Doe” and “Jane Doe.”

Sebastian alleged that the officials denied his father medical care and access to counsel. He also argued that the arrest was unlawful because the Philippines withdrew from the ICC in 2019.

Previous dismissal, Remulla response. The Ombudsman had already dismissed a similar complaint against several of the same officials on Sept. 12. Asked about the new filing, Justice Secretary Remulla described it as "an organized effort" to undermine his candidacy for Ombudsman.

"That's already pending with the Supreme Court in the certiorari case they filed. So, it's really forum shopping," he said in Filipino, referring to a petition pending before the high court.

The ICC case. The Duterte siblings earlier petitioned the Supreme Court to void their father’s arrest, which took place March 11 upon his return from Hong Kong.

The former president faces ICC charges of crimes against humanity tied to at least 43 killings attributed to the Davao Death Squad and to police operations during his presidency. The alleged incidents occurred between Nov. 1, 2011, and March 16, 2019.

While the government has placed the death toll of Duterte’s anti-drug campaign at 6,000, human rights groups estimate as many as 30,000 people were killed, many of them small-time drug suspects.