Now that we have heard more of the same self-incriminating statements from former Pres. Rodrigo Duterte in his testimonies before the Quad Committee of the House of Representatives and the Senate, it is time for Pres. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to take the decisive step of working and coordinating with the International Criminal Court (ICC) to have him investigated, arrested, prosecuted and tried for the killings of thousands of drug suspects when he was Davao City mayor and in his first years as the country’s president.
It is the next logical step in the face of all the admissions Duterte has made under oath of having ordered the killings and having done some of the killings himself. Accountability must be exacted in order to attain justice for the victims.
Duterte’s henchmen must also be arrested, prosecuted and tried for having obeyed their master’s patently illegal orders in exchange for money.
Duterte and his henchmen cannot be tried in Philippine courts where they can exert influence and pressure and frustrate the ends of justice. Neither should they be held in Philippine prisons where they will likely enjoy VIP treatment, given their money and influence and the corruption prevalent in our penal system.
There is no reason for Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to continue feeling bound by Duterte’s self-serving decision to withdraw from the ICC. That is, unless he believes that staying out of the ICC’s ambit will also shield him from being investigated and prosecuted in the future for the mounting war crimes being perpetrated by his military forces in the course of the counter-insurgency war.
*Link to livestreamed press conference organized by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan this morning: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1DuuAzM6Sv/?mibextid=WC7FNe