A former judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said that a Philippine court will not be " able to order the ICC to release a prisoner".

In an interview with Central News Asia (CNA) on Thursday, Raul Pangalangan said this was his first time since he was a judge in ICC to encounter this case.

"First of all, in my years in the court, in all the cases I’ve handled, I have not encountered a similar situation. But I don’t think it’s for any domestic court to order the ICC to release a prisoner already within the jurisdiction of the court" Pangalangan added.

Duterte's lawyers say that the former president's arrest by the ICC is not legal since the Philippines is no longer a member of the ICC.

Pangalangan said that within 48 to 90 hours, former President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to be presented before the pretrial chamber for the confirmation of charges.

"But at the same time, in the end, the ICC has acquired jurisdiction over the accused former President Duterte and if I go by the record of the court, it will proceed to hear the case, all the way to trial and up to the moment of decision of whether to acquit or convict him", Pangalangan said.

In a statement on Thursday, the Supreme Court en banc unanimously resolved to consolidate the three separate habeas corpus petitions "and direct respondents in the consolidated petitions to show cause within a non-extendible period of 24 hours from receipt of notice why the peremptory writ of habeas should not (be) issue (d).'' Marie Manalili/DMS