The Plane That Carried Duterte Continued To Rotterdam After Stopping In Dubai, Sara Duterte's Daughter Followed To The Netherlands

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte/PHOTO KING RODRIGUEZ/Presidential Photo via WIkimedia Commons

JAKARTA - The plane carrying former Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte to the International Criminal Court took off for Rotterdam.

Reported by Reuters on Wednesday, March 12, flights resumed after being delayed for several hours during a layover in Dubai.

Duterte, who led the Philippines from 2016 to 2022, was arrested on Tuesday morning in Manila. The arrest marks the biggest move in ICC's investigation into alleged crimes against humanity during an anti-drug crackdown that killed thousands of people and drew condemnation worldwide.

The plane was originally scheduled to land at Rotterdam airport at around 06.00 GMT, but tracking service Flightradar 24 shows the plane was delayed after a layover in Dubai and is now expected to arrive around 16.25 local time.

A source at the ICC, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the plane had taken off.

About 20 anti-Duterte protesters gathered outside the court in The Hague with banners and masks depicting them as vampire.

Duterte received medical treatment during a layover in Dubai, Philippine broadcaster ABS-CBN News said.

ABS-CBN shows on its website pictures that it says are police doctors who checked Duterte as she lay on the plane bed.

A spokesman for the Philippine National Police said the medical examination was a routine "check of vital signs and monitoring".

His daughter, Sara Duterte, vice president of the country, boarded a morning plane to Amsterdam, his office said in a statement, but it did not say what she wanted to do there or how long she planned to stay in the Netherlands.

The ICC press office declined to comment. One of Duterte's lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Officials in Dubai also did not immediately respond to a response request.