In an unprecedented decision, trial judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) have granted the prosecution’s request to freeze the money seized from former president Rodrigo ‘Rody’ Duterte (FPRRD) at the time when he was arrested in Manila and turned over to the international tribunal in the Hague, Netherlands in March 2025.
Defense filings made public over the weekend confirmed that ICC Trial Chamber III granted the prosecution’s request to freeze “any money that had been seized” from Duterte following his arrest.
Although it remains unclear how much money Duterte had with him when he was arrested, the former president’s defense lawyers earlier described the request as a petition with no value as it “(has) no practical impact upon the existing state of affairs” because the money is already in the custody of the ICC Registry.
I the meantime, public filings also indicated that the prosecution is seeking access to other items seized from Duterte. However, while Duterte’s lawyers does not oppose the prosecution’s request to inspect some of the seized items, defense counsel Peter Haynes urged the judges not to allow access to the keys currently in the custody of the ICC Registry.
“The request is, in substance, a fishing expedition. 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,” Haynes pointed out.
“The basis of such a request must exist before the investigation is undertaken, not emerge as a result thereof. The prosecution cannot be permitted to examine the keys in order to articulate, post facto, the evidential foundation required to justify that examination in the first place,” he added.
As for the other items seized from Duterte, the defense asked the prosecution to take appropriate measures to limit access to personal information belonging to the former president and his family that is not relevant to the investigation, stressing that “such information should also be destroyed or permanently deleted at the earliest possible opportunity.”