Six weeks ago, a van stacked flowers from the international criminal court detention center in The Hague. The court also received birthday cards deliveries. Many, many of them.
They were all for the most recent detainee, Rodrigo Duterte, former president of the Philippines, who was 80 years old on March 28. Tributes were proof of its lasting popularity there, although he was accused of crimes against humanity for having ordered a brutal anti-crop campaign during which tens of thousands of people died.
“The place was flooded with flowers, and I brought part of the mail because they did not know what to do with it,” said Nicholas Kaufman, Mr. Duterte’s lawyer during a telephone interview. He said he had left three bags of mail to Duterte that the court was unable to review. In the Philippines, thousands of people dressed in green associated with Mr. Duterte’s political party flooded the streets of the city of Davao.
The Philippins voted Monday in the mid-term elections, Mr. Duterte seemed certain to win another mandate as mayor of the city of Davao, by a landslide, according to an unofficial count of partial results, although if he is condemned, he could spend the rest of his life in prison. He was the mayor of the city for 22 years, in three separate stretches, before assuming the presidency.
At 11:30 p.m., preliminary yields with 76% of the votes counted showed that Mr. Duterte capturing 63.3% of the vote, well in advance on his nearest rival, Karlo Nograles, at 7.8%. Elections officials will officially announce the winners of the races before Tuesday.
The arrest and the sudden extradition of Mr. Duterte to The Hague in March divided the Philippines. While some polls show that a majority of the Philippins support the investigation, many supporters of Mr. Duterte believe that he is the victim of a political persecution of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., formerly an ally of the Duterte clan.
Shortly after the dramatic arrest of Mr. Duterte, Mr. Marcos The approval rating fell At 25%, against 42% a month earlier, according to a survey by Pulse Asia. But that of Sara Duterte – the current vice -president and daughter of Mr. Duterte – went to 59% of 52%.
Ms. Duterte has long been considered a future presidential candidate. But this election, in which half of the Senate is to be won, could be essential for it. She was greeted for accusations which include corruption, the conspiracy to assassinate Mr. Marcos, participation in drug war murders and incentive in the insurrection, and the 24 senators of the country will decide this summer to condemn it.
In Davao, where Mr. Duterte remains loved, his dynasty is booming. A son, Sebastian, who is the current mayor, seemed ready to win the Vice-Mayoral race, according to the preliminary results. He is expected to act as mayor in place of his father, because he is not clear if Mr. Duterte can take the oath of detention in The Hague. At least seven family members took commanding tracks during the local elections on Monday.
For the very first time, three political families – the Nogranesses, the Garcias and the Al -Ags – combined the forces to challenge the Dutertes, their former political ally, in Davao. But even Bernie al-Ag, who ran against Sebastian Duterte during this election, said that he was unhappy with the arrest of Rodrigo Duterte.
“I also consider it as a paternal figure,” said Mr. Al-Ag, who is a former vice-mayor of Davao.
Before the elections, Mags Maglana, a worker of the NGOs who presented himself for a siege of the Congress against Paolo Duterte, another of Mr. Duterte’s sons, said that she feared that “the effusion of sympathy for the father would be in cascade to the rest of the family”. At 11:30 p.m., Ms. Maglana had only obtained 0.3% of the vote.
Mr. Duterte’s camp used his case in The Hague as a campaign tool. During a gathering in Manila on Thursday, a video of his arrest was played. His supporters wore t-shirts and wore posters that said: “Bring it home”. Ms. Duterte told participants that the country “paid the price to elect the bad chief”.
“What is even more painful is that they managed to kidnap the former president and have thrown him in a hastily in another country to be tried by foreigners,” she said.
This other country, the Netherlands, is far from the life to which Mr. Duterte is used to.
The first issue was food. (We do not know what is exactly served in the detention center, but the former president of Liberia, Charles Taylor, complained once the food was too “Eurocentric”.)))
Fadi El Abdallah, a spokesperson for the ICC, said the court had not commented on prisoners’ privacy issues.
Mr. Duterte said he was “not used” for the meals offered, according to Kaufman, which prompted the lawyer to request “culturally appropriate food”. For Mr. Duterte, it is rice – which he now gets, according to Ms. Duterte.
“This is what we asked and it is perfectly cooked”, ” Ms. Duterte told journalists in The Hague earlier. “Corrects according to the Philippin taste.”
According to Ms. Duterte, Mr. Duterte’s family was authorized to provide her with races, including her darling in Coke Zero. She told journalists that he complained of having obtained Coke Zero once a day and that he needed at least two cans per day.
Life is regimised. Mr. Duterte nestled every morning with Mr. Kaufman in a conference room. In the afternoon, he met some family members. He has time to exercise in a gymnasium that is set up with a court to play Basketball, tennis and badminton. There is another common space, with a table of table football. He is one of Six people in detentionAccording to the judicial archives.
According to Ms. Duterte, her father, who is diabetic, has nurses who supervisor. He has access to library books and a computer that allows him to review his defense documents but is not connected to the Internet. In the late morning or in the afternoon, it is authorized to make telephone calls to numbers that have been checked in advance. He has a television so that he can watch the news.
“As a joking, some people call him a five -star Hilton,” said Kaufman. “But it’s still prison.”
The small detention center is in a Dutch prison in The Hague. One of his former residents was Laurent Gbagbo of Côte d’Ivoire, the first former head of state to be tried in court. He was acquitted with another Ivorian political leader, Charles Blé Goudé, who was represented by Mr. Kaufman.
In a file in court This month, Mr. Kaufman argued that there was no legal basis for the case against Mr. Duterte because the Philippines were no longer a part of state to the law of Rome – the treaty which constitutes the basis of the legal authority of the Court – when the court granted an investigation into the war against drugs in September 2021. His lawyers called for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Duterte.
An audience for confirmation of accusations is scheduled for September 23.
In Davao, dozens of volunteers have camped in front of Mr. Duterte’s house since his arrest. Janice Mahipus, 45, an online seller, said she was sleeping outside the house, first on boxes and then on a bed a few meters away.
“We will never get tired of waiting for him,” she said.
Aie Balagtas see Contributed reports.
