The Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP)-Laban said on Saturday that the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) denial of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s interim release was “expected,” claiming the court has made Duterte its “whipping boy” to divert attention from corruption and failures in governance.

The statement comes after the ICC Appeals Chamber rejected Duterte’s request for interim release on Friday, upholding the Pre-Trial Chamber (PTC) I’s decision to hold the former president in custody in The Hague, Netherlands, while the investigation continues.

PDP-Laban said it had “hoped for the best, but expected the worst” during its two-day prayer vigil.

“... It (ICC) desperately needed a trophy to bolster its sagging fortunes. It has decided that Duterte will be its whipping boy, aided and abetted by the present weak and compliant Philippine government itself in need of something to divert attention away from massive corruption scandals and systemic failure of governance,” PDP-Laban Deputy Spokesperson Atty. Ferdinand S. Topacio wrote in a statement.

Despite this, the party continues to hope and pray for better future outcomes.

“We encourage every patriotic Filipino to keep praying for our former President and our nation as the current dispensation careens non-stop into a precarious precipice of perdition, taking comfort in the promise of the Lord, made through the prophet Isaiah, to ‘not be afraid, for I am with you,’” Topacio said.

Duterte’s legal team put forward three arguments in support of his interim release: first, that the PTC I erred in concluding the former president posed a risk; second, that the PTC I wrongly rejected the guarantees proposed by the State willing to host Duterte; and third, that the PTC I failed to consider humanitarian grounds for interim release. These arguments were rejected by the Appeals Chamber.