The International Criminal Court (ICC) has not ruled to allow former President Rodrigo Duterte to return to the Philippines while wearing a location tracker, according to a Rappler fact-check. Duterte remains at the ICC detention center in The Hague awaiting a pre-trial hearing from February 23 to 27, 2026. Prosecutors are urging him to attend, stating his health arguments have been settled.
False claims have circulated on social media stating that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has ruled former President Rodrigo Duterte can return to the Philippines if he wears a location tracker. A Rappler fact-check confirms no such decision exists, and Duterte remains detained at the ICC facility in The Hague. The appeals chamber denied his bid for interim release in November 2025.
Duterte awaits a confirmation of charges hearing from February 23 to 27, 2026, which will determine if he faces a full trial for murder as a crime against humanity related to his drug war as Davao City mayor and president. On January 26, 2026, Pre-Trial Chamber I ruled him fit for proceedings based on a medical assessment by three independent experts. "Having regard to the relevant legal principles, the medical assessment... the Chamber was satisfied that Mr Duterte is able effectively to exercise his procedural rights," the court decision stated.
Duterte requested to waive his right to attend, writing, "I am old, tired, and frail. I wish for this Court to respect my peace inside the cell it has placed me." However, ICC prosecutors urged judges to compel his attendance. "There is no reasonable cause for Mr Duterte not to appear in person," their February 19, 2026 filing read. They dismissed his health claims, noting experts found him unreliable about his own condition.
Meanwhile, Malacañang defended Duterte's March 2025 turnover to the ICC as lawful under the Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law. "It was undertaken... to attain justice," said Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro. The Philippines was a Rome Statute member from 2011 to 2018, giving the ICC jurisdiction over crimes during that period. The Senate minority filed a resolution to protect Filipinos from extraordinary rendition.
