FPRRD, biktima umano ng “political score settling” ayon sa kanyang abogado na si dating ES Medialdea
- Former president Rodrigo Duterte was allegedly a victim of “political score settling”
- This was according to his lawyer, former Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea
- Former ES Medialdea also lamented that his client, FPRRD, “was denied all access to the legal recourse in the country of his citizenship”
- It can be recalled that the International Criminal Court (ICC) held its pre-trial hearing last March 14, 2025 around 10:15 PM Philippine time
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Former president Rodrigo Duterte allegedly fell victim to a case of “political score settling.”
Source: Youtube
This was according to former Executive Secretary, Salvador Medialdea, who appeared at the pre-trial hearing of the International Criminal Court or ICC.
He also lamented that his client, the former president, was denied access to legal remedies in the country of which he is a citizen.
“My client was denied all access to the legal recourse in the country of his citizenship and this all in the nature of political score-settling,” former Executive Secretary Medialdea told the ICC magistrates.
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It can be recalled that the ICC held its pre-trial hearing around 10:15 PM Philippine time last March 14, 2025.
During the hearing, the presiding judge, Iulia Antoanella Motoc, asked former ES Meadialdea, who appeared as the defense counsel at the ICC pre-trial, to “make observations as to the condition of his surrender to the Court.”
“As part of the procedure and as we said since the very outset, I need to ask Mr. Duterte himself to make observations as to the condition of his surrender to the Court and the conditions of his detention at the detention facility of the Court since his arrival. If he can please tell us these details,” Judge Motoc said during the hearing.
At this point, former ES Medialdea proceeded to tell the court about the circumstances surrounding the arrest of his client, FPRRD, and expressed his belief as to why such could have happened.
“Two days ago, the whole world has witnessed the degrading fashion in which a former president of a sovereign country was bundled into a private aircraft and summarily transported to The Hague. To us lawyers, this would be called an extrajudicial rendition. To the less legally inclined, it was a pure and simple kidnapping. My client was denied all access to the legal recourse in the country of his citizenship and this all in the nature of political score-settling,” former ES Medialdea explained.
He also reiterated his request, albeit the court has already rejected it earlier, to postpone the “substantive aspect” of the hearing to next week.
“Accordingly, I repeat my respectful request, which was rejected this morning, to postpone the substantive aspect of this hearing to the next week when I will have the opportunity to sit with my client and to explain to him what the confirmation hearing is and what the disclosure is and how the prosecution alleges that he committed crimes. I thank the Court for its attention and regret to say that I do not have instructions to continue my submission any further today. Thank you,” former ES Medialdea said.
However, the court, through Judge Motoc, again denied the defense panel’s request.
“Now, counsel, with regard to your request for another hearing to be held next week, well your initial request that was, this was not accepted by the Court. Now, you have seen the two decisions of the court that have been disclosed to you, and you are aware of the fact that these two decisions were refused. And this is tied into the fact that this first initial appearance hearing does not need much preparation, as I have said to you on a number of occasions,” Judge Motoc said.
Former Pres. Rodrigo Duterte was the 16th President of the Republic of the Philippines. He left Malacañang on June 30. The newly inaugurated President of the Philippines is Bongbong Marcos who got 31 million votes in the May 2022 elections. The new Vice President of the Philippines is VP Sara Duterte, the daughter of the former president.
Recently, Judge Iulia Antoanella Motoc of the ICC informed former president Rodrigo Duterte that the latter can file for an “application for interim release pending trial.” An “interim release pending trial” is a remedy provided by international criminal courts and tribunals for a detained accused. According to the Oxford Public International Law, the release can be ordered by the judge who first determines whether conditions for the pre-trial detention of the accused are met. Judge Motoc, during the ICC pre-trial, also said “there will be no trial if the charges are not confirmed.”
During the pre-trial, former executive secretary Salvador Medialdea who appeared as FPRRD's defense counsel during the hearing, said the former president was allegedly a victim of “extrajudicial rendition,” or kidnapping. This was the firm assertion of the former executive secretary in a manifestation expressed during the ICC pre-trial hearing. He also said that the former president was transported to The Hague in a degrading fashion. FPRRD, represented by his lawyer, ES Medialdea, recently made his first appearance in the initial hearing conducted by the International Criminal Court.
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