Open letter to the President on the Philippines rejoining the ICC

When Mr. Rodrigo Duterte was our president, he deliberately attacked God, morality, and human rights. It warped our sense of right and wrong and dulled our resistance to the violence and corruption that defined his administration. He anchored the police and military to his regime with rewards and vows of protection while fervidly urging them to carry out mass killings “to reduce what ails this country.” The more they obeyed, the more they relied on his political shield that ensnared them in a web of patronage. The May 12 local absentee voting results showed that uniformed personnel overwhelmingly backed Duterte-aligned senatorial candidates.

Mr. President, I’m sure you’re aware that the powerful Duterte bloc (aided by the ”maid” who called you a traitor) has been urging the police and military to withdraw support from you. Vice President Sara Duterte even publicly acted out beheading you while she presented herself as the last bulwark against the combined forces of “foreigners, the NPA, smugglers, drug addicts, yellows, liberals, and [your] administration.” On her viral presscon last Nov. 23 at the House of Representatives, she was asked, “Can we still trust this government?” Her reply is more pernicious than the death threats she issued in that same forum, she said—”Don’t recognize anybody above me.”

That active, unrevoked order directly usurps your constitutional authority as President and commander in chief. If, given an instigated political crisis, and troops heed VP Duterte’s order and recognize her as their acting president and commander in chief, it becomes a de facto coup, regardless of whether force is visibly employed. Without firing a shot, the constitutional order will be overturned by military loyalty rather than by legal proceedings. Fortunately, our professional military remains loyal to our Constitution. Still, VP Duterte’s order, regardless of how many obey it, constitutes the first catalytic stage of a coup, aimed at frustrating your execution of laws and duties (Article 139), thereby satisfying the elements of sedition.

No wonder Duterte aides tried to obfuscate her self-incriminating order by posting a trimmed video online captioned “VP SARA DUTERTE: I DON’T RECOGNIZE ANYBODY ABOVE ME. Courtesy: Harry Roque/Facebook.” The caption injects the word “I” into her statement, but the video clearly has none. VP Duterte’s clear and present act of sedition warrants an urgency that supersedes her impeachment and your hopeless attempts at reconciliation.

Meanwhile, Duterte’s arrest by the ICC benefits our police and military. Under his “guilt is personal” logic, only foot soldiers would face accountability for crimes against humanity, never Duterte himself. Rejoining the ICC and allowing his trial to uncover truth and justice would shield our security forces from unlawful autocratic directives and deter coup plotters, as the ICC would cover any crime against humanity (unlawful arrests, torture, killings) committed during unconstitutional political upheavals.

Joining the ICC in 2011 was a celebrated sovereign decision of the Filipino people, unlike Duterte’s unilateral withdrawal in 2018 to escape accountability. Mr. President, let us rejoin the ICC and restore the sovereignty Duterte arrogated from our people.

Ernie Lapuz,

nitelites@rocketmail.com