“Seasons in power are just that – days that will come and go and never last.”
AMID the saga of the arrest and detention of former President Rodrigo Duterte, two personalities invite curiosity: former spokesman Harry Roque went in hiding for a while but conveniently showed up in The Hague last week, and Senator Ronald dela Rosa, currently anticipating his own arrest.
In his previous life, Roque seemed like someone to look up to. He taught constitutional law at the University of the Philippines and was steeped in International Humanitarian Law. He provided advice to lawmakers who were trying to impeach then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. As a legal practitioner, he represented the Malayas Lolas, the comfort women of Pampanga and their continued struggle to obtain justice amid their advancing age. He also lawyered for the families of those killed in the 2009 Ampatuan massacre. He represented the family of Jennifer Laude, a trans woman killed by an American soldier.
But then he was appointed spokesperson of the Duterte administration and it was when the change became so much more visible. The human rights defender was now defending extra-judicial killings. He even wished former Senator Leila de Lima, who was jailed by Duterte on trumped-up charges, would stay in jail for a long time. He was also the spokesperson during the trying days of the pandemic.
Given his drastic about face, one wonders who Roque really was, all along.
In the Netherlands, he was one of the few who arrived soon after Duterte came to the ICC. Initially he appeared alongside the Vice President and gave interviews about his incarcerted former boss, but now we learn that after inserting himself into the situation, he is no longer a part of the legal team (if he ever was at any point in the first place). The VP herself said Roque could present complications when they simply want to focus on the former president.
He’s complicated, indeed: Roque fled the Philippines because he was evading a contempt citation for refusing to appear at the House of Representatives’s probe on Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (Pogo). And now he has the gall to appear in the Netherands, even saying he is seeking asylum there – when all he has done is to mock Philippine systems when they do not serve his purpose.
Bring him home and put his arrogance in its place.
***
Meanwhile, one can imagine the level of stress that Senator dela Rosa must be under these days. As chief implementor of Duterte’s war against drugs, dela Rosa has, on many occasions, never been bashful about the extent of his participation in the bloody war.
In recent days, however, he has gone from saying he would respect the international court’s warrant to announcing his plans to go into hiding – odd, actually, because who broadcasts plans to hide? His colleagues at the Senate have at least promised to not let him be arrested in its premises until he can exhaust all legal remedies.
Senator dela Rosa’s tough-guy stance is balanced only by his predisposition to show his emotions in public. He has cried during legislative inquiries, bewailing the unfair perception of cops, for instance, or as a reaction to his colleagues’ speeches.
Today, the senator is seeking reelection under the ticket of his former boss Duterte. His latest pronouncements betray a grossly personal, loyalty-driven approach to public service. Then again, since he has cast his lot with Duterte who rewarded his loyalty and made him chief of the Philippine National Police, it would be reasonable to expect Bato to already imagine his fate as being sealed.
At least, until they could get back in power, they hope.
***
Roque and dela Rosa serve as cautionary tales on how people could get drunk with power by mere affiliation. It is as if they have suspended their own sense of right and wrong, and simply exist for the memories of glorious days when they could do as they pleased so long as they are in the graces of the powers-that-be.
Now that the power has been bundled off to The Hague, who knows what fate awaits his loyal aides?
It is so tempting to entertain feelings of perverse satisfaction with how things have turned out for those who thought themselves invincible. By now these people should have learned their lesson, that the only good graces that should matter are the public’s. Showing loyalty to the public good — not any one person or party in particular — is the best guarantee of longevity. Unfortunately for them, this one can’t be faked.
adellechua@gmail.com