TRIAL JUDGES at the International Criminal Court (ICC) have officially approved a prosecution request to freeze all cash seized from former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte following his high-profile arrest last year.
According to public filings released by Trial Chamber III, the court granted the prosecution’s bid to freeze “any money that had been seized” from the 81-year-old former leader when he was arrested at the Manila airport and transferred to the tribunal’s custody in March 2025.
While the ICC Registry maintains custody of the confiscated property at the detention facility in The Hague, the exact amount of cash recovered from Duterte remains undisclosed.
The asset freeze has sparked a fierce legal battle between prosecutors and Duterte’s defense team.
Led by British barrister Peter Haynes, the defense initially dismissed the freeze order as “unnecessary” and “pointless,” arguing that the funds were already secured in the ICC registry and that the move would have no practical effect.
However, the core of the dispute has shifted to other personal belongings seized during the arrest—specifically, a set of keys.
The prosecution has requested access to inspect all items and keys in the Registry’s custody to determine if they link to further evidence or hidden assets. Duterte’s lawyers have fiercely opposed this, labeling the move an unsubstantiated overreach.
“The request is, in substance, a fishing expedition,” Haynes stated in the defense submission. “The prosecution advances no evidential basis connecting the keys either to the commission or furtherance of the alleged crimes or to any assets that may be relevant to the investigation.”
“The basis of such a request must exist before the investigation is undertaken, not emerge as a result thereof,” the defense added. “The prosecution cannot be permitted to examine the keys to articulate, post facto, the evidential foundation required to justify that examination in the first place.”
Beyond the keys, the defense team has urged Trial Chamber III to heavily restrict prosecutors from accessing any personal information that could compromise third parties.
Because Duterte was traveling with family members at the time of his arrest, his lawyers claim that looking into his personal effects could violate the privacy rights of his relatives.
The defense has requested that any digital or personal data irrelevant to the case be “destroyed or permanently deleted at the earliest possible opportunity.”
Duterte, who faces multiple counts of crimes against humanity tied to his administration’s deadly “war on drugs,” has been detained in the Netherlands since March 2025. His mandatory trial is scheduled to begin on Nov. 30, 2026.
