As I write this column, the former Philippine President Duterte’s arrest is breaking news on international media platforms and Philippine media. He is the first Philippine head of state to be arrested through the order of the International Criminal Court. He was arrested at the NAIA on Tuesday morning, March 11 (Philippine date/time).
Duterte’s arrest is for the crimes against humanity for close to 30,000 people killed under his so-called “war on drugs.” The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) had put out a Red Notice alert after the ICC issued a warrant of arrest.
The public will recall that the historic filing of the case for crimes against humanity at the ICC by the families of the victims and their NUPL lawyers was either dismissed by Duterte, ridiculed, scoffed at, and even made light of, as if by doing so, his case in the ICC would go away.
Well, it did not.
With Duterte’s arrest becoming a definite certainty in the past months, his tone shifted from his usual swaggering, cocky manner, to defiance, then to one of seeming resignation, as if to invite sympathy.
Most people following the arrest at the NAIA would have heard Senator Bong Go’s repetitive references to his age (he will be 80 soon, Go says!) and Tatay Digong’s health issues and “scheduled medical procedure.” While Go was sounding like a broken record, images of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s neck brace and wheelchair, and that of Imelda Marcos and Juan Ponce Enrile NOT spending jail time because of their alleged health challenges and old age flashed across my mind! Surely, the ICC will provide Duterte the medical help he needs, in jail, at The Hague.
Like many who follow this breaking news, we wait for the transfer of Duterte to The Hague to stand trial for his crimes against humanity, for the whole world to see and also to be detained at the ICC detention cell.
Duterte will join the roster of detainees at the ICC detention cells, a historic first for a former Philippine president. The ICC detainees include Thomas Lubanga, convicted war criminal, and Bosco Ntaganda, rebel leader and convicted war criminal, both from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Radovan Karadžić, president of Republika Srpska, known as “Butcher of Bosnia”, and Ratko Mladić, military officer and war criminal from Yugoslavia, and Charles Taylor, convicted war criminal and past president of Liberia.
BAYAN president Renato Reyes, Jr., wrote that “The arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte is a historic step towards justice and a blow to the regime of impunity that has been prevalent in the Philippines.” There is no forever, even for tyrants. Remember Gen Augusto Pinochet, dictator of Chile, who was arrested in the UK on a warrant from Spain that requested his extradition on murder charges. Close to home, remember Marcos Sr. and family who were ousted by the 1986 People Power uprising.
The Hague-based ICC serves as a court of last resort for the most serious international crimes: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and aggression. The ICC becomes involved when countries like the Philippines are unable or unwilling to prosecute crimes on their territory.
The ICC is the only credible avenue for justice that has been denied the families of the victims of Duterte’s brutal “war on drugs.” And the ICC detention cell is a fitting place to be while awaiting trial. #DutertePanagutin #DuterteIkulong
By E. Maestro
