Ombudsman Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla has dismissed Philippine Ambassador to the United Kingdom Teodoro “Teddy Boy” Locsin Jr.’s claim that former President Rodrigo Duterte was “abducted by Filipinos and handed over to foreigners,” calling the statement “wrong.”

“Mali ‘yang statement na ‘yan,” Remulla said in an interview at DZRH’s Damdaming bayan

“Sinikap ko lang kausapin si Dodo Dulay para siya ang magsabi kay Teddy Boy kasi si Dodo talaga ang nagalaga kay Teddy Boy noong siya ay DFA secretary.”

Remulla’s remarks came after Locsin, who served as Duterte’s foreign affairs secretary, took online to condemn the handling of the former president’s arrest, claiming it was unlawful and unpatriotic.

“If he is guilty of crimes, we thereby confessed our country's and our state's inability to hold him to account. The idea that foreigners, especially Westerners, can judge us is beyond disgusting; it is treason. It is a confession begging for foreign domination in purely national affairs; and by willing and complicit admission,” Locsin wrote.

The ambassador further claimed that Duterte “was not arrested by the International Criminal Court (ICC) but was abducted by Filipinos and handed over to foreigners.”

Remulla, however, stood firm that there was no “illegal abduction,” emphasizing that all legal procedures were observed in Duterte’s case.

Former president Duterte is currently detained in The Hague, where he faces trial for alleged crimes against humanity in connection with his administration’s bloody war on drugs.