The Department of Justice has asked the Supreme Court to deny the petitions of habeas corpus filed by the children of Rodrigo Duterte, who are seeking the release and return of their father to the Philippines.
In a joint compliance filed to the SC on March 17, the DOJ requested the petitions be denied “for being moot and lack of merit.”
Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte, Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte, and Veronica “Kitty” Duterte previously filed three separate habeas corpus petitions for the former president, who is currently detained at the International Criminal Court.
The habeas corpus petition, according to the DOJ, is only issued to relieve persons who are illegally detained or imprisoned without sufficient legal basis. “It is not issued when the person is in custody of a judicial process or a valid judgment,” the department added.
Citing Section 2, Rule 102 of the Rules of Court which states that a writ of habeas corpus can only be enforced within the Philippines, the DOJ said the petitions warrant outright dismissal because they were filed when Duterte was already in the Netherlands. As such, the petition’s respondents no longer have legal and physical custody of the former president.
The respondents of the petitions include Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, Philippine National Police Chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil, and Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Director Maj. Gen. Nicolas Torre III.
The DOJ also said that when the Philippine government, led by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., coordinated with the International Criminal Police Organization to serve the ICC’s arrest warrant against Duterte, it was “merely complying with its international obligations.”
“This, naturally, is well within the President’s discretion to do so, and the exercise thereof is patently a political question, which is beyond the review power of the courts,” the DOJ added.
The DOJ responded to the petitions after the Office of the Solicitor General, the government’s chief legal defender, recused itself from the consolidated habeas corpus cases.
The Duterte children now have 5 days to comment on the DOJ’s response, as ordered by the SC.
SC Spokesperson Atty. Camille Ting clarified that the court asking a party to comment “does not mean that it either granted or denied the petition.”
