As if the country’s situation weren’t already tense, last week’s events heightened public sentiment anew. The arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte and his swift transfer to the International Criminal Court in The Netherlands occasioned polarization and caused calls, from some individuals, to take to the streets and demand that the former strongman be brought back home from The Hague.
But now the detained Duterte, accused of crimes against humanity for waging a bloody so-called war on drugs, is calling for calm.
“Just relax. There is an end to everything. There is a day of reckoning,” was the message in Filipino, coursed through his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte.
The elder Duterte appeared for the first time before the court during the pre-trial proceedings Friday, where his lawyer decried the supposed politicization of the process and that his client’s arrest was “pure and simple kidnapping.”
One wonders what was going through the minds of the judges when these claims were being made. Outwardly, they stuck to business and said his next appearance would be in September for the confirmation of charges.
Many things can happen between today and Sept. 23.
Foremost, the family, which changes mood and words in a heartbeat, could continue to fan their supporters’ emotions by playing the victim and crying persecution. They could also continue to spin the tale that the ICC is somehow aligned with their political enemies, conspiring to do everything to bring the Dutertes to their knees.
The efforts are not confined to bombastic pronouncements.
In the past few days, fake news has been relentless over social media: that the United States president has expressed support for Duterte as well as some international lawyers, all of which are fictional characters in television shows, that Duterte was denied medical attention, that he was not informed of his arrest warrant, that the Supreme Court has issued a temporary restraining order on the arrest, that there were mass resignations in the military and police, that ICC judges were somehow related to the rival political camp. Medialdea himself spread the news that his client was missing. Worse: Many parroted him.
Many continue to believe these lies and push them hoping that spinning the narrative will change the erstwhile leader’s situation. What are these people thinking? Such antics will not hold water in an international court – not a white man’s court, by the way; it just happened to be based in The Netherlands – steeped in strict adherence to due process.
Completely on its own, however, Duterte’s message to his followers could well be anyone’s message to all those whose loved ones were killed, and whose lives were upended, in the senseless, self-aggrandizing war.
“Just relax. There is an end to everything. There is a day of reckoning.”
As we mourn those thousands killed, we take somber comfort from indications that reckoning has, indeed, begun.
