Former President Rodrigo Duterte testifies at a Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on his administration’s war on drugs on October 28, 2024. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News/File MANILA — President Rodrigo Duterte failed to secure from the Supreme Court a temporary restraining order against his arrest on a warrant from the International Criminal Court.

After a virtual deliberation, the High Court said it found, by majority vote, that Duterte and petitioner Sen. Ronald Dela Rosa “failed to establish a clear and unmistakable right for the immediate issuance of a TRO.” 

But the Supreme Court directed Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin and other respondents to comment within 10 days on the 94-page petition that it received late Tuesday.

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In separate petitions filed Wednesday, the ex-President’s daughter Veronica and son Davao City Mayor Duterte asked the SC to compel the government to bring their father back to the Philippines and explain his arrest.

“Both petitions have been raffled off to a Member-in-Charge for appropriate action,” the SC’s Public Information Office said.

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Veronica had accused the government of “kidnapping” her father.

"The ICC can only exercise its jurisdiction if a country's national legal system is not functioning," Duterte lawyer Salvador Paolo Panelo Jr. told reporters, insisting the Philippines' judicial system was "working properly".

But palace press officer Claire Castro said cooperating with Interpol on the case was the government's prerogative.

"This is not just surrendering a Filipino citizen, this is surrendering a Filipino citizen who is accused of crimes against humanity, specifically murder," she said at a briefing.

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The plane that brought arrested Duterte to Dubai en route to the Netherlands took off after a stopover of several hours on Wednesday, a flight tracking site said.

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— With a report from Agence France-Presse