The marching order was simple: arrest former president Rodrigo Duterte and bring him to the Netherlands.

Like a true-blooded uniformed man, Police Major General Nicolas “Nick” Torre III followed this command and sent flying to The Hague the country’s once most powerful man. It was not easy arresting Duterte and implementing the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) warrant, but Torre said the secret to success was through mind games.

From the moment Duterte landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on the morning of March 11, until the time he boarded the aircraft that brought him to the ICC headquarters, Torre said he made sure the Duterte camp would accede to their authority without them having to resort to physicality. They spent the whole day negotiating inside Villamor Air Base, where Duterte was detained, but Torre said he inculcated in everyone’s mind that Duterte had to be flown no matter what.

When the clock hit six in the evening, things moved a bit faster and Torre said he reiterated to everyone that Duterte should be flown in a few hours. Tension rose when the police implemented their final order: get Duterte on the plane.

Former executive secretary Salvador Medialdea dared Torre to arrest him, and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) chief did and handcuffed Duterte’s lawyer. Torre said if needed, he would have arrested everyone in the room to show Duterte he was serious about implementing the ICC warrant. The last straw, Torre said, was when he said he would arrest former Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board chief Martin Delgra too.

“Then after that, [F]PRRD (former president Rodrigo Roa Duterte) said, ‘Let’s go.’ You needed mental, mental [strength] in that situation. I have to get into their minds to make them submit [to me],” said Torre in a Rappler Talk interview.

Duterte is currently in The Hague to face his crimes against humanity case. Courtesy of Torre, local authorities, and the Interpol, the former president became the first former Philippine chief executive and former Asian head of state to be arrested for the said case.

Torre said the demeanor of the people around him did not affect him in effecting Duterte’s arrest. Not Duterte’s mood which was consistently neutral the whole day, and not even the consistently combative and irate Honeylet and Kitty, partner and daughter, respectively, of the former president. He did not mind being cursed at, being insulted, being intimidated, because his goal was to arrest Duterte.

“If I needed to handle him physically, I would. I would bring him to the plane physically. It won’t look good for the both of us — it won’t look good on my part, and it’s also bad for him,” Torre said.

What also signaled the negotiation’s culmination, according to Torre, was when the 79-year-old Duterte threatened him for the last time. The former president told the CIDG chief that the Duterte family would go after him even before his retirement from the PNP.

“You know, when he said that, It’s like a sigh of relief. Because you know, threats, name-calling, and all those things are the last refuge of a person who runs out of arguments. So I told myself, this is done already. He would soon surrender because he already went to that direction,” said Torre.

“It strengthened my resolve.”

On March 20, Torre faced the interrogation of the Senate foreign relations committee chaired by the President’s own sister, Senator Imee Marcos. After the lady senator found there was no way she could intimidate Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla in the hearing, she redirected her hard questions at other officials like the CIDG chief.

Senator Marcos fired questions over the implementation of the warrant, which the CIDG was able to respond to quickly. But she found an entry point — Torre’s actions against Medialdea and Delgra to finally convince Duterte to board the aircraft.

In particular, Marcos grilled Torre over his action seen on video where he was holding Delgra on the arm. The CIDG chief justified this, saying the lawyer was also obstructing the implementation of an arrest warrant. Torre’s arrest of Medialdea was also questioned.

“I do believe that under that circumstances, I have to arrest him (Medialdea). I do believe that I used reasonable force to ensure compliance for him to step aside for us to load the former president to the plane,” Torre said, defending himself. “He’s blocking our way, he’s preventing us. He actually placed another chair at the side of the president for the former president to sit, which is already very much delaying everything because the plane is already ready to fly.”

Torre the tactician

The CIDG chief said there was a plan in place in the event the ICC issued a warrant against Duterte. It was not a spur of the moment operation, he said. It just so happened that the opportunity arose when the warrant was released while Duterte was overseas.

Torre said when the operation was entrusted to him, he told his principals to allow him to work on his own: “I really told them that let me let me succeed and fail on my plans. Because if I succeed, I succeed based on my plans. If I fail, I fail on my plans also, so there’s no one else to blame but me.”

Torre said they were ready with contingency plans for their operation. In the event that Duterte skipped landing in NAIA and decided to head straight to Davao City, Torre said their forces were ready to face him there.

Even at the height of emotions, Torre remained reasonable. Had there been a temporary restraining order issued in favor of Duterte, the CIDG chief said he would have abided by it and released the former president.

“We always respect the court processes. The decision of the courts will always be respected…That’s what we’re fighting for,” he said.

With two years left before retirement, Torre said his decades of experience in the police service prepared him well to deal with tough situations, like arresting high-profile suspects like Duterte. He had seen and been through worse, so what he experienced at Villamor “didn’t affect [him] anymore.”

Torre, the career officer

Before Duterte, Torre was also key to the arrest of alleged trafficker and Kingdom of Jesus Christ leader Apollo Quiboloy in September 2024. Torre said he played mind games too in that operation. (READ: Police played Apollo Quiboloy’s ‘game’ until told to ‘finish it’)

In operating against high-profile suspects like Duterte ally, Quiboloy, Torre said his resolve was boosted by the knowledge that they were in the right because they were merely implementing a legal warrant. His adopted mindset? If the suspects are stubborn, law enforcers should be more adamant, Torre said. No compromises, no surrender.

“We need to insist on what’s right, insist on the rule of law. Because at the end of the day, it’s just a simple implementation of a warrant of a very powerful, very rich, very influential person. But it doesn’t make him any different than any of us, so we need to insist on the rules,” said Torre.

AS CHIEF. Then-Davao Region police chief Nicolas Torre III speaks to the media during the presentation of fugitive Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KoJC) Pastor Apollo Quiboloy and his co-accused, at the PNP Headquarters in Camp Crame on September 9, 2024. Jire Carreon/Rappler

A native of South Cotabato, Torre graduated from the PNP Academy in 1993. Under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., he served as the director of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD), then later as Davao Region police chief. He took over the helm of the CIDG after his successful arrest of Quiboloy.

When he started his career over 30 years ago, Torre said the things he wanted to achieve as a police officer were clear to him. He told himself that once he reaches the higher ranks, he would go all-out in his operations because he did not want to regret anything at the end of his police career.

In his journey to the top, Torre said he made sure he was assigned to the major islands of the country — in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. He was in the training service and had an international assignment in the United Nations. He was also previously assigned to the transportation department and once worked as an air marshal.

Torre said he also made sure he adequately prepared for advanced studies. Even while in the police service, he made sure he would study well and achieve a good standing in the order of merit.

“I am reaping the results now because I understand what’s happening around me. I believe I can think on my feet as the operational environment changes…I can adjust accordingly,” the CIDG chief told Rappler. “I also tell the police underclass, the juniors, to make sure they can think on their feet, to adjust in accordance to the changes in the operational environment.”

As a junior officer, Torre said he started journaling and writing about what he intended to do, including even his feelings. And this journal has been a witness to how much he despises violence.

“I don’t believe that violence will bring us anything, especially EJK (extrajudicial killings). It [should always be based on] the judicial processes,” he said.

Torre also revealed that many of his fellow policemen were only forced to follow Duterte’s orders during the drug war. He explained that the police is both an apolitical and a professional organization that follows the orders of duly constituted authorities like Duterte. So if there’s anyone to blame for the drug war, it should be Duterte, he said.

“However, the orders may be questionable. Definitely questionable. But if you’re a policeman, are you in the position to question the order of the commander-in-chief? So we can say that whatever the police did, we can say it’s covered by command responsibility,” he added.

Human, too

“I still have fears, that’s why I have insurance, because I am also afraid. That’s why we also have fear management,” Torre said, adding that threats are “normal” for him at this point, so he still observes security, operational, and communication security measures.

In his career, there have also been some hard lessons for Torre, like when he resigned as QCPD chief in 2023 after he was accused of providing a platform to a former cop who drew his gun on a cyclist during a road rage incident. Torre said he learned after the incident that perception is truth, especially in social media.

He learned not to rush things. Torre admitted there were some miscalculations on his part in that incident because he allowed the interview to happen inside the QCPD office, so it appeared like he allowed an official platform to be used.

Torre has also been criticized for his practice of filing complaints against dissenters, like what Duterte did during his presidency. The CIDG chief filed an inciting to sedition complaint against Duterte after the latter joked about killing senatorial aspirants, and most recently, he also filed a cyber libel complaint against a pro-Duterte vlogger who spread disinformation that he had been hospitalized.

“Duterte and I are different. When handling dissents, I go through the legal process, right? I don’t get people killed, right? I went through the legal process…That’s really our process. Dissent will always be here, and our ideas will always clash because Filipinos are intelligent,” said the general.

With his growing prominence, following his successful operations against Duterte and Quiboloy, some could not help but wonder, will Torre be the next PNP chief after the incumbent, Rommel Marbil, retires in a few months?

“I’m not thinking about it because it is a presidential prerogative, right? Less expectations, less frustrations. There are 220,000 policemen, how can I be sure the President will pick me?” Torre said. “The PNP chief should be a unifying force, should be somebody who can handle these 220,000 policemen, somebody who can actually be acceptable to civil society.”

But while waiting for his fate, it’s business as usual for Torre. He said he would continue his mandate as a two-star general and as CIDG chief.

Torre already laid his plans at the end of his police service.

“Once I retire, I will really spend time with my children. Because during my last donning of ranks, my eldest, 23, was in tears. He told me he grew up missing his father,” Torre said. – Rappler.com

*Quotes were translated into English for brevity