The Senate resolution advocating for Rodrigo Duterte’s house arrest is a calculated display of political opportunism. It constitutes an unwarranted intrusion into the International Criminal Court’s work and betrays a profound disregard for the impartial application of justice.
The resolution invokes “humanitarian” concern for the unrepentant Duterte while ignoring the families of victims of extrajudicial killings who continue to demand justice.
The senators who voted in favor of the resolution are complicit in the malicious attempts of the Duterte camp to spread disinformation about the case in order to delay and undermine the ICC trial.
As a sweeping probe into infrastructure corruption unfolds, many dating back to the Duterte presidency, senators entangled in the scandal and the architects of the Tokhang carnage are cynically using Duterte’s ICC detention to pander to the pro-Duterte crowd. Their goal is clear: to muddy the waters of public opinion, silence the clamor for truth and justice, and escape accountability.
This is the same Senate that dismissed the people’s clamor to hold Vice President Sara Duterte accountable for her misuse of confidential funds.
The ICC will likely consider the Senate resolution as glaring proof of the remaining influence of the former president in the country with his family and subordinates holding powerful positions in government. Thus, allowing Duterte to be placed under house arrest poses real danger to victims and witnesses of Tokhang and extrajudicial killings.
His release from custody in The Hague will send an alarming message that even those accused of crimes against humanity and other high crimes could enjoy special treatment from the court. Rodrigo Duterte’s house arrest would boost the machinery of deceit and repression against those who are demanding justice and accountability.
The machination of the Duterte camp and their supporters is enabled by the unprincipled stance of the Marcos Jr regime that has no interest in pursuing justice and is even ready to negotiate with corrupt and fascist leaders like Duterte, in order to shore up Marcos Jr’s shaky presidency and evade accountability for its own crimes against the Filipino people.
Bayan calls for widespread public resistance against any move to grant brutal mass murderer Rodrigo Duterte the privilege of house arrest. It is our duty to stand resolutely with the victims of extrajudicial killings. #
