Vice President Sara Duterte and former president Rodrigo Roa Duterte have been ousted from the National Security Council, the Philippines’ highest policy making body advising the chief executive of the land, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Romualdez Marcos Jr., on matters of national security.
The motive for removal from the NSC of the father-daughter tandem is quite obvious. Sara and Digong are national security threats.
One obvious question is: being national security threats, will Sara and Digong be arrested?
Analysts say Sara will most likely be impeached, or removed as Vice President, by whatever means legal and necessary, not necessarily “neutralized,” the Duterte family’s favorite jargon when trying to eliminate a threat or a pest for good.
Will Digong be arrested? Ask the International Criminal Court in The Hague where a case for crime against humanity against the former president – and possibly, including Sara whose Davao mayorship was marked by equally violent extrajudicial killings – is being considered.
Per Wikipedia, crimes against humanity are acts committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, such as murder, deportation, torture and rape. The ICC prosecutes perpetrators even if the crimes were not committed in times of war.
By law and practice, it is the Philippine President’s prerogative to choose who should advise him on matters of national security.
Sara revealed during a press conference she imagined to cut off the President’s head, after she was angered by BBM’s refusal to give his watch to a graduating cadet who asked for the presidential timepiece as a graduation gift. The VP also disclosed on live television that she had hired assassins to kill BBM in the event she herself was assassinated. That makes Sara Duterte a terrorist. And terrorists, by definition, are national security threats.
On Nov. 23, 2024, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin declared Sara’s assassination rant as “an active threat.” Said the Presidential Communications Office: “Acting on the Vice President’s clear and unequivocal statement that she had contracted an assassin to kill the President if an alleged plot against her succeeds, the Executive Secretary has referred this active threat to the Presidential Security Command for immediate proper action. Any threat to the life of the President must always be taken seriously, more so that this threat has been publicly revealed in clear and certain terms.”
On Jan. 5, 2025, National Security Adviser and NSC director general Eduardo M. Año put in context the NSC reorganization, but vaguely:
“The President’s issuance of Executive Order No. 81, s. 2024 reconstituting the composition of the National Security Council (NSC) is necessary to further enhance the formulation of policies affecting national security. The NSC is, first and foremost, an advisory body to the President, and its composition is always subject to the authority of the President.
“The Administrative Code of 1987 vests the President with the continuing authority to reorganize the administrative structure of the Office of the President, of which the NSC is a part. Moreover, Section 17, Article VII of the Constitution vests in the President the power of control over all executive departments, bureaus and offices.
“Pursuant to this authority, previous presidents have reorganized the composition of the NSC to meet the president’s requirements and changing conditions. Since the NSC was established by President Elpidio Quirino in 1950, it has undergone several reorganizations. President Ferdinand E. Marcos reorganized the NSC under EO 396 in 1972. President Corazon Aquino reorganized the NSC under EO 115 in 1986 and EO 292 in 1987. President Fidel V. Ramos reorganized the NSC under EO 33 in 1992 while President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo reorganized the NSC under EO 34 in 2001.
“Hence, the purpose of reorganization is to enhance the formulation of policies relating to national security so that actions and decisions thereon by the presidents rest on sound advice and accurate information. It is also premised on the need for timely and coherent action to address current and emerging threats to national security.”
Under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 (Republic Act 11479) signed by then president Duterte himself, terrorism are acts “intended to cause death or serious physical harm to a person, to endanger a person’s life or to create a serious risk to public safety.”
As a threat, Digong Duterte, 79, has committed four transgressions, major ones: One, he claimed (without proof) that BBM is a drug addict and therefore must be removed as president; two, he urged the military repeatedly to mount a coup against the President; three, he wants the island of Mindanao to secede from the Republic of the Philippines and four, as the president, in 2020, he declared he wants the Philippines to be a province of China, rather than become a United States territory.
During his presidency, Duterte virtually cut off ties with the US, refusing to make a state visit despite Washington DC’s entreaties, and veered towards Beijing.
National security originally began as national defense concept – protection against military attack. National security is the security and defense of a sovereign state, including its citizens, economy and institutions. Later, national security was broadened to include non-military dimensions such as, per Wikipedia, security from terrorism, minimization of crime, economic security, food security, energy security, cyber security and environmental security.
Accordingly, national security threats are violent non-state actors, drugs cartels, organized crime, criminal multinational corporations and the effects of natural disasters.
Of course, a hungry population, gross income inequality and corrupt politicians are national security threats. How does the state respond to such “threats?”
The Constitution has the answer.
“The Armed Forces of the Philippines is the protector of the people and the State. Its goal is to secure the sovereignty of the State and the integrity of the national territory.”
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