world

Philippines' Duterte will not cooperate with ICC drug war probe

23 Comments
By Cecil Morella and Ron Lopez

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© 2021 AFP

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.


23 Comments
Login to comment

International Criminal Court

Yes. They do have jurisdiction.

3 ( +8 / -5 )

The West going after weaker countries again. Perhaps they should set a precedent and arrest the people responsible for the illegal wars in Afghanistan and Iraq war first ans show

that nobody is above the law, otherwise it is meaningless.

-6 ( +7 / -13 )

But the Philippines' top judges ruled earlier this year that the ICC can prosecute "government actors" for alleged crimes committed before the country withdrew from the tribunal -- contradicting Duterte's assertion.

Lots of luck. In the Philippines, corruption runs deep. Really deep.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

The word is, his family is IN the Business…go against him, buying or selling, and you end up dead.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

Hen or egg? He is just doing the right thing there. They all very easily can avoid any killing by not dealing with drugs or consuming them.

-5 ( +4 / -9 )

Duerte was just eliminating the competition and cleaning up his family's messes. His family is in the manufacturing and wholesale drug business along with other criminal activities. He runs a crime family.

He is the Philippines' version of the Trump family. Every bureaucratic decision must somehow benefit him and his circle of cronies.

5 ( +9 / -4 )

He is just doing the right thing there.

Advocating for murder is bad, actually.

8 ( +10 / -2 )

On this site many of the posters I have read that write in support of Duterte, claim he is a "strong' man, they say he is strong in part because he is not afraid to have his country's security people kill his fellow citizens.

Not surprisingly many of these posters are also pro-authoritarianism, pro-Trump and pro-Putin. Those who favor 'strong' leaders must really admire Stalin, reported to have overseen the deaths of millions of USSR citizens. Or Mao, or the Austrian corporal, among so many others

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

Along with Putin Xi, and Kim, someone that Trump wishes he could be...

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Filipinos are so shallow-minded for electing this pretentious clown....

6 ( +7 / -1 )

At some point in the future, the casualties of a worldwide war on drugs will be tabulated, and the tally of people who were tortured, imprisoned or murdered for taking a substance to change their mental state, self medicate psychological issues etc. will be of genocidal proportions.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Crash course Davao politics.

Rody. What should be do before launching the drug sweeps and elimination of Chinese Meth and the triads in here in the country.

Eliminate blow back and those nosy pesky agencies that probe into the Philippines' drug war about to launch,

And that what he did. His pattern is very predictable if you know his politics.

If you know anything at all about this man, all you have to do is look at what he did in Davao. How he cleaned it up. By instilling fear/punishment and death. Do not think for a moment that this man does not love his country and his country man and the children. This man has a serious distain for illegal drugs and that comes with it. He is a staunch Catholic as well. He will stop at nothing to protect the youth and the innocent from falling into the drug trap in the country.

Were civil right abused? Were users, pushers, killed? Yes, they were shot down in cold blood and the shooter got a bonus for it. Hits done far and wide, on Scooters in tandem, Dirty cops and politics were amongst the ones killed mayors and families. Clean cops and hit men pulling triggers. I know this man said on many occasions, Deal and die! That is it. Your in drug game. Your taking your life in you own hands.

Its one of those things. History will judge

Is he a Hero? Is he a Monster? In this time and age we struggle to hold on to what's right and what's wrong.

Black and white, Left and right. But he works with in the grey area.

This man only thinks what best for the youth and the health of his country.

The people of the Philippians and history will judge him. Govern by the gun/ Die by the gun.

That is just P.I.

But in short he eliminated the possibility of blow back by leaving certain accords. That is was smart if want to win a war and fight dirty.

It is what is. Its a dirty fight there on the war on drugs and the power.

And my family is all the safer for it.

Thank you Digong! Salamat.

Say no to drugs! Especially man made ones.

One love!

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Not long ago I watched a documentary about Mr. Duterte so called war on drugs, basically it is a war on the homeless, the poor, the unemployed, the sick, and the addicts, people are getting killed on the streets in drive by shootings carried out by police officers in plain clothing.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Duterte is just one of many psychopath government leaders at large supported by the usual multitude of dupes and corrupt enablers. Beyond doubt, he's a mass murderer, but the self-righteous "international community" won't touch him as he is only a fascist thug who poses no ideological threat to gangster capitalism.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Watch this Frontline full film about the war on drugs in the Philippines.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qugduxazBBg

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Philippines needs to be 100% sanctioned until this clown is gone.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

So, you managed to get the ICC after you? Wow! Quite an accomplishment that very few around the world could ever lay claim upon. Or ever will.

So, what DOES it take to avoid international scrutiny of the most heinous crimes against humanity and civilisation, ever? Takeaways may include:

Got Veto? Permanent UNSC members can block almost anything. The U.N. Human Rights Commission MAY create a committee to investigate charges, identify you as responsible and provide a road map for holding you accountable; without UNSC approval or disapproval, but your children will probably grow old and retire long before that happens. Score!

Got Friends? Got a good friend on the UNSC? Or one of them who shares your authoritarian worldview enough to stick a neck out for you (doesn't take too much imagination to see themselves in the dock after you)? Cool! Score!

Got Army? Have a huge standing army (perhaps nearly a third of all artillery pieces in total existence today)? Army trained since age three to obey you as The Man, and to act like a pit-bull on meth at the mere sound of your voice? Have a country with little to lose financially or politically? Like playing with lethal toys and showing that they can splash them into the sea in the general direction of others as a grand gesture? Are you a leader who is largely unhinged (at least in the view of many /most / all of the rest of the world), and who shares a family trait of having a short fuse and a big mouth? Likely Score! (Keep looking behind you; your "friends" may eventually get tired of you).

Got Nukes? Anybody seriously think that an ICC case will EVER actually be considered against a member of the Ultimate Frat House? Yeah, right! Score! Close to the Frat? Almost as good. Partial Score (see rest of the comments).

Got Peace & Love? Find yourself one, two or fifteen solicitors, religious types and politicians who share your edgy world view, to hold news conferences to announce that Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity don't apply to you. Make sure that you form some NGOs and organize world conferences with ardent friends and supporters, to practice chanting that everything that is said or written in the least bit negative about you is a horrendous lie and a vile slander. Score!

Got Money? Form some kind of a self-serving Highwayman & Suspenders economic plan for achieving true peace and prosperity, then start shoveling out lots of money, sweet trade deals, and big promises to any country that is having a hard time balancing their own fiscal budget and is willing to take the bait. Make sure that you regularly schedule military maneuvers close by them and your neighbors, in case they could possibly misunderstand that you are giving them a choice of being a friend or somebody else . . . for now, at least. Score!

Got Money? Part Two? Form some educational foundations and start handing out huge research grants to educational institutions everywhere. Fund generous professorship chairs and private public partnerships everywhere. Fund research into anything and everything that you may consider of strategic importance - even in the abstract - in the foreseeable future. Flood the inquisitive minds of your young cadets into universities everywhere. Focus on locations that have valuable natural resources. Score!

Got Outrage? Want to deflect any charges against you, no matter how small? Make sure to accuse your detractors of being hypocrites, since they did the same thing - or worse - at some point in their existence on the planet throughout the millennia. OR - just as bad - they didn't get on their high horse to accuse their friends or someone else across the planet of doing something resembling what you did. Don't worry that it doesn't necessarily rise to the same scope or magnitude; just make sure to tell the world through your media mouthpieces that all such talk against someone as peace-loving as you are is spoken like a true hypocrite. Partial Score (must be used in combination with any of the above).

Old adage, paraphrased: If you don't have the law on your side, argue facts; if you don't have law or facts going for you, beat on the table and scream that YOU are the victim! It works more often than you may think.

Practice. Repeat. Practice some more. Repeat. There! You are now a full-fledged Teflon-coated international criminal.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

If Durtete is so such a murderous leader.

Break it down.

A majority of Filipinos support Duterte’s signature “war on drugs” in principle, they do not approve of the extrajudicial killings that have taken place (the government admits to 6,000 such killings since Duterte’s election, whereas human-rights organizations put the figure at more than 20,000). More generally, it’s not hard to find Filipinos, especially among the professional classes—journalists, lawyers, academics—and university students who see Duterte as a grave danger to their country’s democratic traditions and rule of law.

-Paradox-

But here’s the paradox: Despite all of that, despite the awkward fact that Duterte is the only elected president on the planet being investigated for crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, despite his insulting language about women, his attacks on the press, and his capo di tutti capi style of rule, despite his use of the country’s judicial machinery to prosecute political rivals, he enjoys the highest approval ratings of any Filipino leader at this stage of their term in office in recent history. In many ways, Duterte’s political success illustrates many of the reasons strongman and populist leaders the world over, including Donald Trump, are able to bypass crises or challenges that would torpedo a more typical politician.

“This is a man who admits to killing,” Marites Vitug, a prominent journalist and author, told me, a mixture of wonderment and resignation in her voice, “and yet he’s popular.”

Mic drop!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites