Duterte’s double trial
The strategy of the camp of former president Rodrigo Duterte is very clear this early. They will turn the International Criminal Court (ICC) trial of Duterte into a double trial: first, as a criminal trial before a foreign court and second, as a political trial before the Philippine court of public opinion. They will naturally go on the defensive in the ICC, but they will exaggeratedly go on full offensive in the court of public opinion.
During the initial hearing of Duterte’s case last Friday, Duterte’s preliminary counsel, lawyer Salvador Medialdea, delivered a political and malicious speech before the three women ICC judges, accusing President Marcos and the ICC of conspiring in the “kidnapping” of Duterte. Medialdea branded the Philippine president and the ICC as “two troubled entities (that) struck an unlikely alliance.” He even had the temerity to slander the ICC as “a troubled legal institution subject to delegitimization and desperate for a price catch and a legal show today.”
If Medialdea mouthed those same words before a Philippine court, he would have been held in contempt of court and even disbarred as a lawyer. However, the ICC presiding judge, Iulia Motoc, just shrugged off Medialdea’s slanderous remarks. Instead, Motoc coldly and curtly reminded Medialdea that the court had previously issued “two decisions” denying Medialdea’s request for postponement because the “first initial appearance hearing does not need much preparation, as I have said to you on a number of occasions.”
It is clear from the words of Motoc that what Medialdea ranted in his speech was already ruled upon and denied by the court before the Friday hearing and “on a number of occasions.” Knowing that his motions were already denied, Medialdea still continued with his rehashed rants, and the ICC judges allowed him to do so. His rants were not intended for the ICC judges, however. Knowing that the hearing was being watched possibly by tens of millions in the Philippines, he was obviously speaking to the court of public opinion.
From the short first hearing of the ICC pre-trial chamber, therefore, it has become obvious that the Duterte camp will try to turn the judicial trial into a political trial for the Filipino audience. The Duterte camp will do everything to portray Duterte as an old and sickly victim of injustice, and milk the trial of its ability to yield emotional political drama. There are three objectives of the Duterte camp in this regard: first, to foment civil unrest in the Philippines; second, to obtain an electoral verdict in favor of Duterte allies in the forthcoming 2025 midterm elections, and third, to capture the ultimate prize of an electoral victory that will return the Dutertes to Malacañang in the 2028 presidential elections.
The ICC prosecutor and the pre-trial chamber judges must be wary of being used by the Duterte camp as unsuspecting characters in a political melodrama that will be played up like a long-running soap opera in the Philippines. The prosecutor must be quick to object to nonlegal and emotional arguments of the Duterte team and move to strike them off the records to justifiably shame the former. The ICC judges should not bend backward by liberally allowing grandstanding and histrionics. The ICC judges should always wield their disciplinary stick by making stern warnings, imposing sanctions, and immediately cutting short statements that have no legal relevance. Lastly, the ICC judges should not allow the trial to be an exclusive domain of foreigners because it will feed into the strong narrative of Duterte fanatics that it’s a complete cast of aliens—who, they accuse of knowing nothing about the ground situation in the Philippines—and who will pronounce judgment on a fellow Filipino.
The very quick proliferation of fake and manipulated news that falsely portray Duterte as a victim of injustice, is expected to continue in complete cadence with the ICC trial. There has been a massive explosion of trolls who spread disinformation that is manufactured to favor Duterte. The online bullying and harassment by Duterte supporters—horribly victimizing even Motoc—will continue as the trial unfolds. In fact, there are numerous reports that drug war victims’ families, especially those living in Mindanao, have experienced physical harassment, threats, and intimidation from Duterte fanatics. Many victims’ families fear for their lives because of the propensity and capacity for violence of supporters of the former president. As the trial unfolds, we should expect more of these fake news and acts of harassment coming from Duterte forces.
The Duterte team accuses the ICC of kidnapping Duterte. Naah. It will be the Duterte camp that will kidnap the ICC in the full public glare of a trial.
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