\n<\/p>\n
Emily Soriano was doing laundry this week when a friend rushed into her house with news about their yearslong quest for justice.<\/p>\n
In December 2016, gunmen stormed into a house in their poor neighborhood north of Manila and started shooting. They killed seven people, including three children and a pregnant woman. Ms. Soriano and her friend, Isabelita Espinosa, each lost a son, both teenagers.<\/p>\n
To the victims\u2019 families, the massacre seemed senseless, like thousands of other extrajudicial killings carried out during former President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s so-called war on drugs. Ms. Soriano and Ms. Espinosa have long held him responsible for the deaths of their sons \u2014Angelito Soriano, 15, and Sonny Espinosa,16 \u2014 whom they say were innocent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Mr. Duterte\u2019s arrest on Tuesday, on accusations of crimes against humanity, was a major milestone toward accountability, the women said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat matters to me now is that justice is served,\u201d Ms. Espinosa said. \u201cAnd that we don\u2019t allow these butchers and tyrants to remain in power. We must fight back.\u201d<\/p>\n
While he was in office, Mr. Duterte publicly encouraged the violence, which rights group say left tens of thousands dead. He promised immunity to the police officers who targeted people whom the authorities described as only \u201cdrug suspects.\u201d Many were also killed by vigilantes.<\/p>\n
Mr. Duterte rose to the presidency campaigning on his law-and-order credentials. He began his deadly antidrug campaign in the city of Davao, where he was the mayor for years and is accused of running a so-called death squad.<\/p>\n
Between 2001 and 2007, Clarita Alia said four of her sons \u2014 all teenagers accused of petty crimes \u2014 were killed at Mr. Duterte\u2019s behest. Over the past two decades, she became a symbol of protest against the killings in Davao, where speaking against Mr. Duterte was once unthinkable.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy that he\u2019s been jailed,\u201d Ms. Alia said. \u201cNow, he will feel what the people he hurt felt.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Mr. Duterte was arrested in Manila on Tuesday after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant accusing him of crimes against humanity. Hours later, he was flown to The Hague, where both the I.C.C. and its detention facilities are based.<\/p>\n
He is expected to make his first appearance in court on Friday, according to a court official. But his trial is not expected to start for months.<\/p>\n
In the warrant, three judges of the court wrote that they had been presented with evidence that led them to believe Mr. Duterte was personally responsible for the killings and the attacks that were \u201cboth widespread and systematic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Duterte has argued the I.C.C. has no jurisdiction in the Philippines because he withdrew his country from the court while he was president. But in the warrant, the judges wrote that they were looking at extrajudicial killings while Manila was a member of the court. His supporters have denounced his arrest and handover to the I.C.C. as political persecution by the current president, Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. Mr. Marcos has said he was complying with Interpol, which posted the I.C.C. warrant.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
In Davao, Mr. Duterte\u2019s stronghold, red ribbons with the words \u201cBring Duterte Home\u201d were on display in many parts of the city. Some residents had stuck his photos on their vehicles in a show of support.<\/p>\n
Ronald Camino said only criminals were angry with Mr. Duterte. \u201cThose who do good are the ones being arrested,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In the Manila region, Ms. Espinosa got the news of Mr. Duterte\u2019s arrest in a text message. Soon, she and Ms. Soriano were knocking on neighbors\u2019 doors and gathering relatives of other drug war victims. Six other women joined them and hundreds of others that afternoon and lit candles to mark the arrest of Mr. Duterte.<\/p>\n
During that rally, in nearby Quezon City, Ms. Espinosa wept for her son.<\/p>\n
Ms. Soriano said she shares a birthday with Mr. Duterte, who will turn 80 on March 28. \u201cI want to tell him: \u2018I\u2019m happy, this is a gift for me. But for you, it\u2019s bad luck because you\u2019ll be celebrating your birthday in jail.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
But some Filipinos struggled to process their emotions.<\/p>\n
Rodrigo Baylon\u2019s son Lenin was killed by a stray bullet during a shootout in Caloocan in 2016, three days before he turned 10.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Celebrating Mr. Duterte\u2019s arrest, Mr. Baylon said, also meant reliving that horrific event. At the time, Mr. Duterte\u2019s chief of police, Ronald dela Rosa, who is now a senator, dismissed Lenin\u2019s death as collateral damage in the drug war.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs this what they call justice?\u201d Mr. Baylon said. \u201cAnd will justice really come from the I.C.C.?\u201d<\/p>\n
He questioned why a foreign court, not the Philippine government, was holding Mr. Duterte accountable.<\/p>\n
\u201cIsn\u2019t the government supposed to help people like us?\u201d Mr. Baylon said.<\/p>\n
Marlise Simons contributed reporting from Paris.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n