By Herbert Vego
WHO could have imagined former President Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte nose-diving from top to bottom?
As I was writing this, the former strongman had arrived at The Hague, Netherlands, taken into custody by the International Criminal Court (ICC) following his arrest in Manila on murder charges linked to his “war on drugs” in which 6,200 of purported illegal dealers and users were killed.
That number is based on records declassified by the Philippine National Police (PNP). But human rights organizations say it’s no less than 30,000.
Duterte has not denied responsibility over the killings. In fact, in his testimony before the “quad committee” at the House of Representatives in October 2024, the 79-year-old fallen leader admitted having organized “death squads” to kill drug dealers and pushers.
To this day, however, Duterte insists the ICC has no more jurisdiction over him because the Philippines has withdrawn from the Rome Statute, the international treaty establishing the ICC’s jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression by rulers of member states.
I remember, however, that a coalition of rights activists had rallied before the Supreme Court to oppose the country’s unilateral withdrawal from ICC, arguing that it should have been done with the concurrence of the Philippine Senate.
To recall, it was the late President Benigno Simeon Aquino who ratified the Rome Statute on February 28, 2011.
But it remained invalid until the Senate concurred on its ratification on August 23, 2011. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who is now the President, was one of those senators.
Anyway, no less than our Supreme Court accepted our unilateral withdrawal in a ruling promulgated in March 2024, which held that the ICC “retains jurisdiction over any and all acts committed by government actors until March 17, 2019” — therefore encompassing the first three years of Duterte’s presidency.
The ICC has jurisdiction because the accusations dated from when the Philippines was still a signatory of the treaty.
It was on Duterte’s unilateral initiative that the Philippines left the ICC in 2019, a year when it had already entertained complaints about bloody drug crackdowns all over the Philippines.
His reason for withdrawal of ICC membership is enmeshed in his “personal freedom” disguised as “Philippine sovereignty”. He argued that he would like the Philippine justice system to decide.
Alas, he has never been impeached during his presidency, nor charged in Philippine courts after bowing out of office in 2022.
Anyway, if he were not guilty as charged, why be afraid of the ICC? Would it not clear him of crimes against humanity before the eyes of the world?
Otherwise, it may be deduced that his real reason for ICC withdrawal was to escape persecution and prosecution.
If truth be told, ICC would afford him the due process of law that the Philippines courts had denied to the victims of his war on drugs who were just mercilessly shot and killed by his “death squads” on the spot.
Fortunately for Digong, the ICC does not impose the death penalty. It can only impose imprisonment (up to 30 years or life), fines, and forfeiture of proceeds, property, and assets derived from the crime.
-oOo-
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