"I give Duterte a passing grade of 75."
I have plenty of questions on President Duterte’s refusal to cooperate with the International Criminal Court whose former prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said there was reasonable basis to probe the Duterte administration for crimes against humanity. This is in connection with Duterte’s bloody war on illegal drugs.
With the Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, claiming that alleged crimes committed by parties to the Rome Statute (a treaty) compel the members to cooperate with ICC, President Duterte has been insisting that he would not cooperate. This is because the Philippines has already withdrawn its membership from the Rome Statute in March 2018. Still, the Supreme Court ruled that the alleged acts were committed when the Philippines was still a member.
Now Malacanang claims that the ruling was only an “obiter dictum,” which in law means an “aside rule,” not on the main allegation of crimes against humanity.
The question now is, can the ICC allegations compel him to cooperate with the ICC probe? This is aside from the fact that the Supreme Court ruled that Duterte could not unilaterally withdraw without the Senate approval from the Rome Statute.
In other words, we go back to the main issue of whether or not the Duterte administration did commit crimes against humanity.
In other words, while the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision did not rule on the merits of the case, it brought up some very interesting points in connection with the ICC’s reasonable basis for the investigation.
The question now is whether or not Duterte can resist the ICC probe.
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Candidates for the presidency and vice presidency are either pro-administration or opposition. If a national candidate claims he is not pro-administration nor an opposition, it’s plain hypocrisy.
Thus, when the tandem of candidate Ping Lacson for President and Senate President Tito Sotto for Vice President say that they are neither pro-administration nor opposition, I am compelled to ask: So what are they?
For Ping Lacson to claim that he and Sotto are not in opposition is contrary to fact. In the Senate, Lacson’s advocacy is against graft and corruption in government. I in fact admire him for his advocacy. And I agree with Sotto that the war against illegal drugs of the President must be holistic.
Obviously, the Lacson-Sotto tandem is trying to be different from those who are pro-administration and those in the opposition. They are trying to make themselves the “Third Force.” I think this weakens their appeal.
The moves of Senator Manny Pacquiao to ally himself with either the Liberal Party of the Yellows, or the 1Sambayan, is more realistic, if eventually he will be ousted from the PDP-Laban. It appears inevitable.
Meanwhile, the admission of Vice President Leni Robredo that she doesn’t have the means, or funds to run for President is honest enough.
Perhaps, that is the reason why she is not yet claiming to be the Liberal Party’s presidential candidate. According to insiders, Leni is more inclined to run for governor of Camarines Sur.
So, who will be the Liberal Party’s candidate for President. It looks like the Yellows do not have a choice but to settle for Pacman or former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV. This is no choice at all.
As I see it, there will indeed be more than one opposition candidate.
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I am writing this column to meet my Monday deadline before Duterte’s final State-of-the-Nation-Address. I cannot exactly guess what Duterte will talk about as his accomplishments for the last five years of his six-year term, and what he considers his legacy.
Naturally, he will talk about his war on illegal drugs and also his war against graft and corruption. But, as an observer of current events I really wonder what Duterte achieved during the five years he was in office.
And I would like to ask, did he fulfill all his promises he told us in the former SONAs? Did his wars on illegal drugs and graft and corruption in government succeed? And I wonder what will be his legacy when he steps down in 2022?
I must be honest and give Duterte a passing grade of 75 percent for the five years he has been in office. And up to now I am still wondering why he has been so popular with the people. Is it because Duterte speaks the language of the masses, being tough and a “kanto boy?” Or, are the pollsters wrong?
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Putting aside politics, we in the National Capital Region (NCR) are back again with tightened health protocols amid the Delta variant transmission with all the non-essential workers and even children staying home. Well, I guess that’s it.