My Reader "The Punisher" Duterte At The ICC

As the former Philippine president faces the court, I'm releasing my interviews with him with no paywall

On Monday, judges at the United Nations-backed International Criminal Court, or ICC, in The Hague began a four day confirmation hearing about whether there are “substantial grounds to believe” that former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte committed crimes against humanity during his war on drugs in his homeland. Now 80 years old, Duterte was arrested last year in Manila and flown to The Hague. He waived his right to appear at the hearing.

At the height of his war on drugs when Duterte was president, I interviewed him twice. But it was a conflicting situation as Duterte had declared himself a reader of my books on the cartel wars in Latin America and gave copies to his generals. While he gave me explicit interviews and access to the colorful characters in his court, I felt I was in a difficult situation as a journalist and long held off in publishing. With the case in The Hague, I am taking the paywall off these two stories on “My Reader ‘The Punisher’ Duterte.”

Copyright Ioan Grillo and CrashOut Media 2026