Phl politics: Guns and money

The gall of the Duterte family. They liken their patriarch Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s situation to that of slain senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., a national hero in the eyes of many Filipinos.

This is the same Duterte family that still has yet to account for up to P100 billion of taxpayers’ money waylaid into private pockets during their time in power, including the P41 billion of Department of Health money diverted to Pharmally, a company of Duterte crony Michael Yang, for the purchase of expired medicines and substandard medical supplies; the P51 billion in three years of pork given to Paolo Duterte, a Davao congressman when Papa was president, and the hundreds of millions of confidential funds wasted by Sara Duterte as the secretary of the Department of Education and incumbent Vice President.

Sara’s confidential funds went to non-persons with exotic names: Mary Grace Piattos, Renan Piatos, Pia Piatos-Lim, Xiaome Ocho, Jay Kamote, Miggy Mango, Doding S. Barok, Dodong Alcala, Dodong Bina, Dodong Bunal, Dodong Darong, Andong Mio, Erwin Q. Ewan, Ellaine Aray, Mutya Palanca, Panglaw Quizon, Dandu Dondie Silud, Dunates Zeta, Mike Delta, Jael Zumba, Amoy Liu, Fernan Amuy.

“Too farfetched to compare Duterte to Ninoy,” palace press officer Atty. Claire Castro said. “Duterte had once likened himself to Hitler… Aquino never had a record of mass murders.”

Balikbayan Ninoy was shot to death at the Manila International Airport noon of Aug. 21, 1983. Duterte was arrested at the airport and deported. Three years earlier, in May 1980, Ninoy was sent to Dallas, Texas by then first lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos for a triple heart bypass surgery. Imelda saved Ninoy’s life after a near fatal heart attack in Manila.

Duterte was extradited on March 11 by the government after an arrest order issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. Sending Duterte to the Netherlands for detention while facing trial for crime against humanity (CAH) is an act of sovereignty. A Philippine law that ante-dated the Rome Statute criminalizes CAH. “It was an exercise of sovereignty by which the legislature passed Republic Act 9851 into law that allows our government to desist from investigation and prosecution in favor of an international tribunal,” writes law dean Fr. Ranhilio Callangan Aquino. The ICC prosecutor has disclosed 181 pieces of evidence against Duterte. They include testimonies from key witnesses, forensic reports and other critical evidence linking Duterte to extrajudicial killings in the war on drugs.

Early in his presidency, on Sept. 30, 2016, Duterte declared in Davao City hometown: “Hitler massacred three million Jews. Now there are three million drug addicts (in the Philippines)…. I’d be happy to slaughter them. At least if Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have (me). You know my victims, I would like (them) to be all criminals, to finish the problem of my country and save the next generation from perdition.”

Duterte is accused of the alleged murder of 12,000 to 30,000 civilians during his long reign (1988-1998, 2001-2010, 2013-2016) as mayor of Davao and during the first three years and eight months (July 2016-March 17, 2019) of his six-year presidency while the Philippines was a state party to the 2011 Rome Statute that created the ICC and criminalizes planned and widespread murder of civilians, or the crime against humanity (CAH).

CAH is punishable by imprisonment of up to 30 years. Since CAH suspects usually go in hiding (like what former Philippine National Police chief, Senator Bato de Rosa, a CAH suspect, is doing now), they are usually not allowed bail, what the ICC calls interim release. As PNP chief, Bato launched Oplan Double Barrel. He issued PNP Command Memorandum Circular No. 16-2016 that resulted in the mass murder of civilians, a minimum of 6,000 to a maximum of 30,000.

Said former president Duterte before a Senate hearing on Oct. 28, 2024: “Every thing that my police did pursuant to my (kill) order, I am responsible. Let me go to jail. Do not jail the police who just followed my orders.” At the same hearing, Duterte pointed to his former PNP chiefs as his death squad commanders – Dela Rosa, Catalino Uy, Vicente Danao and Archie Gamboa, all of whom were present. “Maraming namatay, sir. Marami talaga. Thousands, I would say, from iyong naging mayor ako. Marami,” Duterte told the senators.

Now, Vice President Sara Duterte wants to bring home her dad, who turns 80 (on March 28), claiming the patriarch was kidnapped by foreigners.

Half of the nation believes Duterte is guilty. On Feb. 15-19, 2025, pollster Social Weather Stations asked 1,800 registered voters, “How much do you AGREE or DISAGREE: Duterte should be held accountable for the killings related to illegal drugs during his administration?” An overwhelming 51 percent agreed; only 25 percent disagreed.

In Sara’s case, she has lost massive popularity and public approval, thanks to unhinged behavior and reckless spending. Between June 2024 and December 2024, her approval rating, per Pulse Asia, dipped, from a commanding 69 percent to just 50 percent, nationwide; below 50 percent with two percent margin of error. More tellingly, in the national capital and in the main island of Luzon where 60 percent of the population lives, her approval has gone below majority, from 64 percent to 34 percent in Metro Manila, and from 54 percent to 40 percent in balance Luzon. Only the loyalty of Cebuano folk carries her through, from 80 percent approval in June 2024 to 51 percent, and from 95 to 80 in Mindanao, by yearend.

Meanwhile, Pulse Asia this month reported more than a third of registered voters in the country (37.9 percent) characterize Philippine politics as “magulo;” for almost a fifth of registered voters (17.3 percent), politics in the country is corrupt or involves the exchange of money (i.e., “pera-pera lang”).

*      *      *

Email: biznewsasia@gmail.com