International Criminal Court threat to charge Duterte violates Philippine sovereignty

Connect the dots:

1. Last week, the yellow CHR Chairman Chito Gascon was in the Netherlands. He said this in the text message that he sent to Senator Dick Gordon, which Gordon read aloud at the last Senate hearing on EJKs that was aired on TV.

2. During that Senate hearing, Leila de Lima spent a lot of time asking the PNP and PDEA about the procedures, forms, and documents used for Oplan Tokhang. It was almost like De Lima was looking for anything that she can hold up as “evidence” of state-sponsored killing (e.g. forms signed by Oplan Tokhang surrenderees who turned up dead later on; narco lists submitted by barangay captains that contained names of drug pushers who were eventually killed in police ops). Watch De Lima’s questioning from 4:26:50 of this video.

3. Today, the ICC (International Criminal Court), which is based in the Netherlands, issued a statement that basically warns that it might file charges against President Duterte for inciting state-sponsored violence.

4. Gascon and De Lima have been threatening to call in the ICC since President Duterte came to office. Some pro-Duterte online commentators have been saying for months that, since the yellows and their foreign co-plotters don’t have the numbers to stage another people power, they will follow the Africa template and use the ICC to remove President Duterte.

I’m not an expert, just a news junkie, but common sense tells me it’s only a matter of time before the ICC files actual charges. After all, there’s a reason why all this noise about Duterte is being whipped up in the international media. Whether or not there’s actual evidence is beside the point. This isn’t about truth or justice. This is a power play.

I think it would be better for President Duterte’s team to assume that the ICC case is a done deal, and plan ahead. The key is to make sure Leni Robredo is out of the equation, so President Duterte stays in control and no yellows take over even if an ICC case is filed. Duterte has a talent for turning his enemies’ attacks to his advantage. I won’t be surprised if he turns the tables on them once again.

As a Filipino citizen, I’m enraged at the thought that any outside entity thinks it can trample over the sovereign will of the Filipino people—especially a self-righteous outside entity that is suffering from a lot of credibility issues of its own.

Google “ICC credibility”, you’ll find it very interesting. Also, the ICC actually had to drop the charges they filed against President Kenyatta of Kenya in 2014. He is still the President of Kenya. Also worth reading about.


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