Instead, I’d like to focus on a broader issue; how it feels to someone—namely me—who has previously admired the strength and moral fortitude of his adopted homeland.
It’s an unfamiliar sensation summed up in one word, and that word is shame.
Shame that, in the interests of political expediency, the country has allowed one of its own to be hauled before a foreign entity for judgement beyond the scope of Philippine custom, precedent, values, and law. Shame that, what can reasonably be described as a government kidnapping, occurred after years of earnest assurances that such a thing would never happen. And shame regarding the message this whole sordid affair sends to the world, specifically that the Philippines is powerless to act on its own and therefore subject to the authority of others.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand the concept behind the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court now holding the former president’s fate in its hands. Like the United Nations, it is charged with providing its own international brand of justice. And, like the UN, it has failed miserably in that endeavor.
Created in 2002, the ICC has 125 members, including such Asian notables as Cook Islands, Nauru, Tajikistan, and Timor-Leste. Not to mention, of course, the African standouts like Benin, Burkina Faso, Comoros, Djibouti, and Lesotho.
Never heard of them? That’s probably because most self-respecting major world powers such as the United States, Russia, China, India, and Israel have consistently refused to take part. Say what you will about US President Donald Trump, but speaking before the UN’s General Assembly in 2018, he told the absolute truth.
“As far as America is concerned,” Trump said, “the ICC has no jurisdiction, no legitimacy, and no authority. The ICC claims near-universal jurisdiction over the citizens of every country, violating all principles of justice, fairness, and due process. We will never surrender America’s sovereignty to an unelected, unaccountable, global bureaucracy.”
Which is why only a handful of the court’s many arrest warrants have ever been enforced. Among the few countries compliant in enforcing them are Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic. Oh, and on March 11, the Philippines cheerfully added its name to that extremely short list.
“Today our government has surrendered a Filipino citizen—even a former President—to foreign powers,” Vice President Sara Duterte, Rodrigo’s daughter, screamed in a written statement. “This is a blatant affront to our sovereignty and an insult to every Filipino who believes in our nation’s independence.”
As is blatantly obvious, the surrender seems to have been largely precipitated by a political blowup between Sara and Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. And reactions to this new assault in a deep-rooted political divide have been terrible and swift.
Thousands nationwide have turned out for protests demanding the former president’s release. The federal Office of the Solicitor General has recused itself from defending the arrest because of the agency’s “firm position” that the ICC has no business in the Philippines, which cancelled its membership in 2019. And, spurred by the President’s own sister, Sen. Imee Marcos, the Senate last week launched a probe.
The big fear, of course, is that none of it will matter.
Because the ICC operates by its own rules. And the burgeoning power dispute in the Philippines, according to the Hong Kong-based Asia Times, “is a blood feud with dangerous consequences for governance, security and the wider region. Unlike mere political rivalries,” the paper warns, “blood feuds in the Philippines involve personal vengeance, loyalty betrayals and the mobilization of private armies.”
Our best hope is that none of it happens. Wait, a quick correction: that’s our only prayer.
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David Haldane is an award-winning American journalist and author with homes in Southern California and Northern Mindanao. His upcoming book, Dark Skies: Tales of Turbulence in Paradise, is available for preorder on Amazon. This column appears weekly in The Manila Times.
