The International Criminal Court ICC in the Netherlands confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that Duterte had arrived to be taken to court, where he will be held accountable for what he called "a war on drugs". The charges concern violent acts and summary executions.
In a video that Duterte published at the same time as the plane he was traveling in was about to land in the Netherlands, he said "I am the one who led our police and military".
I have told the military and police that it was my job and that I take responsibility, said the 79-year-old in the recording.
However, the ICC believes that there are reasons to bring Duterte to trial for crimes against humanity through murders as "indirect perpetrator".
According to human rights groups, tens of thousands of people, mostly young, poor men, were killed. Often, there was no evidence that they even had any connection to drug trafficking.
Duterte is lucky, he gets a trial. My son didn't get one, says Emily Soriano, whose son Angelito was killed during Duterte's rule.
Duterte will get to lie in a comfortable bed, my son is already rotting in the cemetery.
But Duterte's youngest daughter accuses the current government in the Philippines of having kidnapped her father, and has turned to lawyers to get her father released from the ICC.
The International Criminal Court can only exercise jurisdiction if a country's own legal system does not function, says lawyer Salvador Paolo Panelo jr – and claims that the Philippines' judicial system is functioning as it should.
