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Daphne Galvez - The Philippine Star
December 5, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court (SC) has allowed the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to resume as counsel for the government in petitions challenging the legality of the arrest and turnover of former president Rodrigo Duterte to the custody of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
According to the SC, the high tribunal granted the manifestation of the OSG, now led by Solicitor General Darlene Marie Berberabe, to re-enter its appearance as the government’s counsel after the institution recused or inhibited from participating in the petition for certiorari last March.
Berberabe’s predecessor, Menardo Guevarra, had recused from the petition, saying he “may not be able to effectively represent” the government in the cases over its firm stance that the Philippines has no legal obligation to cooperate with the ICC nor recognize any process emanating from the ICC because of the country’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute in 2019.
The move was granted by the SC in April, thus allowing the Department of Justice to take over the case.
A re-entry became possible after the DOJ received an SC resolution in November, requiring a comment on the Duterte and Sen. Ronald dela Rosa’s camps’ urgent manifestation with prayer to stop the implementation of an arrest warrant against Dela Rosa, if there is one.
Lawyer Paolo Duterte, the counsel of Veronica Duterte who is one of the children of the former president who filed a habeas corpus over her father’s arrest, said it does not matter who represents the government in the case.
“You cannot defend the indefensible. Treason cannot be disguised as international cooperation, and submission to the Constitution cannot be optional. Former solicitor general Menardo Guevarra got it right the first time,” he said in a statement.
Lawyer Israelito Torreon, the counsel of Duterte and Dela Rosa, said they filed a reply to the OSG’s manifestation that “responds to all arguments raised” and “ensures that the SC now has before it the complete submissions necessary for the fair and thorough resolution of the issues.”
He said they maintain that Republic Act No. 9851, the law invoked by the government to justify Duterte’s turnover to the ICC, cannot be invoked because the Philippines has no extradition treaty with the ICC.
He also said no executive agency may enforce any foreign warrant without a judicial warrant issued by a Philippine court under Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution.
Berberabe earlier defended her decision to re-enter the OSG’s appearance in this case, saying it was “based on our totality of the facts, including those that have unfolded since March 2025 and our understanding of the law as it should apply to those facts.”
Duterte accepts ICC ruling
Vice President Sara Duterte said that her father has already accepted the denial of his appeal for interim release.
“Surprisingly, he always said that ‘I accept everything that happened, because its’ all political. I am a politician, and that’s how political life is,’” the Vice President said in an interview in The Hague, shared on Facebook by former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque.
The Vice President said her father even asked for a Coke Zero when she visited him in his cell.
“We had a good laugh… When I arrived, he said, ‘buy a Coke Zero,’ so I bought a Coke Zero, and then when he finished his Coke Zero… He said, ah, ‘do you know those exotic drinks?’ I said, ‘I’m sure there’s something exotic there, but not Coke Zero,’” Duterte added.
Vice President Duterte added that she was able to buy a Fanta Zero for the former president.
The ICC Appeals Chamber issued in open court its unanimous decision denying the appeal lodged by the elder Duterte’s lawyers against an earlier decision of pre-trial judges that denied his request for conditional release to another country.– Bella Cariaso
