“The big question is whether or not Duterte’s arrest and detention will drastically change the country’s political situation”
THE arrest order by the International Criminal Court for former President Rodrigo Duterte finally came and his subsequent airlifting on a jet flight by the ICC to the Hague. Duterte was accompanied by his former executive secretary Salvador Medialdea.
The next day, his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, with Senator Robin Padilla, Harry Roque, and his son Paolo Duterte flew to the Netherlands where the ICC is. What I cannot understand is what Duterte’s lawyers intend to do since Duterte’s arrest and airlifting had nothing to do with Philippine laws, Santa Banana!
It is up to the ICC to try the former President for “crimes against humanity” in connection with his brutal and bloody war against illegal drugs, where the police claim he had killed over 6,000, but unofficial estimates say some 27,000 to 28,000 were killed.
We can expect that the followers and supporters of Duterte will be crying out that the Philippine government surrendered its sovereignty to the ICC.
I don’t know why they say the Philippine government surrendered its sovereignty to the ICC since the arrest of the former President was done by the ICC, not the Marcos government.
The ICC was created by the UN Rome Statute. Well, Duterte is now in the hands of the ICC. Just how will Duterte’s cohorts, like his former Chief of Police , now Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa and Oscar Albayalde, fare at the ICC once they are also arrested. we can only guess.
Some say the arrest of Duterte is a reckoning,
I say at long last the relatives of those killed in the brutal and bloody war on illegal drugs and victims of EJKs will finally see that the long arm of the law has finally gotten hold of Duterte and his cohorts and they will get the justice they deserve.
We can expect the followers and supporters of Duterte to be rallying and protesting and crying out and attacking the Philippine government for surrendering its sovereignty to the ICC.
Well, the ICC now has Duterte to answer for crimes against humanity. Just how long will the ICC render its verdict, we can only guess. But, it is important to note the ICC has its own rules of procedure and pretrial prior to the trial.
How many times have we heard Duterte say in his speeches that he takes full responsibility in his brutal and bloody war on illegal drugs?
And how many times have we heard him say he has also killed people? Duterte is being indicted for the Davao Death Squad killings when Duterte was Davao City mayor. And the Davao City killings could not happen without an order from Duterte as mayor.
No matter what remedies the lawyers of Duterte will file with the Supreme Court will be denied for the simple reason the arrest of Duterte and flight to the ICC at the Hague was not under Philippine laws, but laws granted to the ICC under the Rome Statute by the UN which created the ICC.
I can only laugh at the statement of the Vice President that the arrest of her father was a case of “state kidnapping.”
We have all seen photos of the detention cell where Duterte is detained at the Hague awaiting trial by the ICC. It is small but decent enough with its own toilet and bath,
My gulay, it is certainly much more livable than the overcrowded jails where the detainees are packed like sardines, especially during the years of Duterte’s war on illegal drugs, when jails were so overcrowded inmates had to take turns lying on the floors to sleep. That’s criminal, Santa banana!
Well, that shows that Duterte is getting his reckoning. Now all the relatives of those who suffered and died under the six-year term of Duterte will soon get justice denied them for so long.
Soon enough, Bato dela Rosa and other police chiefs of Duterte who implemented the EJKs and all those atrocities will have to face the law under the ICC. That also means their reckoning.
The big question is whether or not Duterte’s arrest and detention will drastically change the country’s political situation and even the forthcoming midterm election. I say nothing, nothing at all.
What we can expect from the forthcoming pretrial and the trial trial itself is that ICC procedures. which will involve both the prosecutors and defenders, are something our judges, justices, and courts of law can learn from, my gulay!