Duterte’s comeuppance and other thoughts
If I were to put a soundtrack on former president Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest upon his arrival from Hong Kong on March 11, the brief chaos and protestations that ensued, his being uploaded onto a waiting Lear jet that would fly him to the Netherlands, and his being handed over to the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague, it would be German composer Carl Orff’s famous cantata “Carmina Burana” (1935).
A huge chorus of voices begins with a thundering “O Fortuna, velut luna, statu variabilis, semper crescis, aut decrescis. (O Fortune, like the moon you are changeable, ever waxing, ever waning).” After that earthshaking start, the voices and the orchestra hush down to a soft, calculated cadence that sounds like a wheel turning, moving, turning. Then suddenly, as if without warning, the voices rise to a sforzando like the force of waves crashing against rocks on a deserted shore. Wham!
Orff’s opus is a favorite of filmmakers and choreographers. “Carmina Burana” is a medieval Latin poem said to have been discovered in a Bavarian monastery. It is about the fall and rise, rise and fall of human beings—plus other things besides. Orff set the poem to music and created a sound so compelling, ominous, and cinematic.
Indeed, what goes up must come down, like the Filipino saying, “Bilog ang mundo. (The earth is round.)” So Duterte is having his comeuppance, meaning one gets the punishment or fate that one deserves. In Gen Z speak: BNSY.
Here was Police Maj. Gen. Nicolas Torre III, director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, serving the warrant of arrest for Duterte who, as mayor of Davao City and as president, had used police operatives for his murderous pursuits. Torre it was who stalked and smoked out Apollo Quiboloy from his paradise. This Duterte supporter and enabler, who calls himself “the appointed son of God,” is accused of sexual molestation of minors, human trafficking, and other crimes. So how did Torre carry out the arrest of Duterte? “It was all a mind game,” he said. Note that, whatever that means.
Just thinking: Are the many groups from the church sector that have been critical of Duterte’s war on drugs that killed tens of thousands but spared the big lords now “erring on the side of charity” by not airing what they think or feel about the recent events that they had been waiting for? Are they rejoicing silently but leaving it to Duterte supporters to dominate cyberspace and physical spaces as a means to justify their father figure’s “kill, kill, kill” orders? All for the good of “his beloved country”?
Fr. Flavie Villanueva, SVD, he who risked his own life and stood by the victims of extrajudicial killings (EJKs) and execution-style murders, said it succinctly: Duterte’s war on drugs was “a war against the poor.” Loud and clear.
The Religious of the Good Shepherd issued a statement dated March 13, 2025, to make known where they stand:
“We are inspired by the strength, courage, and unwavering hope shown by the families of victims of extrajudicial killings of the Duterte bogus drug war. Truly, the years from 2011 to 2019 were dark years for the Philippines. But the families of EJK victims held on tenaciously together and never lost hope that justice will soon triumph!
“We, Good Shepherd Sisters and lay partners in mission in the Philippines, will continue to demand accountability from the past and present governments for their sins against the people especially the poor. We will support all victims of EJKs and human rights violations during the Duterte regime which continues until now under the Marcos regime.
“We shall unite our efforts in solidarity with the international and global community to pursue and work for justice and fight against impunity and corruption in all its forms.”
In other words, it’s far from over.
Legal experts are descending from their perches to offer opinions and educate us on whether or not Duterte’s arrest and detention at the ICC’s Scheveningen Prison at The Hague were done by the book. A lot is being made of the Philippines being a member of the ICC and party to its Rome Statute starting only in 2011 when Benigno Aquino III was president (2010-2016). Duterte (2016-2022) withdrew membership in 2018, and this took effect in 2019. He had three more years to go. A multitude of sins was yet to be committed by his implementors. Anyway, in House and Senate hearings, he made so many admissions underscored with “I and I alone take full legal responsibility.” His chilling public extrajudicial confessions are lodestones for the ICC prosecution.
When Duterte withdrew the Philippines’ membership in the ICC halfway through his presidency, his brutal war on drugs was still continuing and corpses of innocents were still piling up. It was a clever and sinister move he thought might make the ICC look the other way. May it backfire and boost his culpability.
In the meantime, we wait while the moon waxes and wanes. “O Fortuna.”
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