People and power

Hearts are heavy and they say that when your heart gets too heavy with pain, people don’t cry. They become silent. Completely silent. This was what I felt in the air the other day as the news of former president Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s arrest came tumbling out over social media as soon as he arrived from his trip to Hong Kong where he, his daughter Vice President Sara Duterte and others, gathered for a thanksgiving meet with Filipino overseas workers.

No one was ready (enough) for the events that followed the day the former president arrived back in the Philippines and everything seemed to have happened so quickly that only his former executive secretary, Salvador Medialdea, was able to make it with him en route to The Hague where Duterte will face the International Criminal Court.

While there are so many conflicting opinions on the validity of FPRRD’s arrest, based on what I have read from lawyers and friends on social media, I am more concerned about how we, as fellow Filipinos of a free and sovereign nation, have responded to this event that has surely marked our history. When Rodrigo Duterte once said that he would bear the cudgels for the war on drugs, he meant it and saw it through till the end.

On the day of his arrest, uniformed personnel heard him say over and over that they are just following orders and doing their jobs. Rightfully so and, without any resentment towards them, Duterte assured them that he completely understood. But did the Philippines actually send Rodrigo Roa Duterte to The Hague? Did we give our former president to foreigners? At this point, the ICC has taken custody of the former president on a warrant accusing him of crimes against humanity for his war on drugs.

Families of victims hailed the former president’s arrest and interestingly enough, eucharistic mass celebrations on that fateful day gave “thanks” for this moment in history for those who were killed.

The almost 80-year-old Duterte was arrested on an ICC request and such a jurisdiction is opposed by the supporters of the former Philippine leader whose popularity has skyrocketed even more since he was “seized,” considering that the world is now talking about Rodrigo Roa Duterte.

Grieving families of victims are hopeful and claim that their loved ones never had due process while Duterte still had his. But was former president Rodrigo Duterte indeed given his due process or was he, as his former executive secretary said, “whisked” away and taken to hell?

Our previous head of state is being subjected to a foreign entity as argued by all his supporters yet, there are those who believe he must be held accountable – something the former president always said he would not run away from, for as long as it is all done in the Philippines.

From what I saw and heard on some footages on social media, when asked if he would be flown out of the country on an airplane, former president Duterte instantly said “kill me” when the answer was affirmative. While Duterte has time and again said that he would be responsible for everything pertaining to the issue of the drug war, the former president did not disappoint – he never, not once threw anyone under the bus.

On the other hand, the chance to face his accountabilities in his own country was denied. It must be noted that over time, many have thanked him for making our streets safer, especially for their children. Having said all this, Filipinos everywhere, here and abroad, have not forgotten his words and it seems that the “send off” may have triggered a deeper and louder reaction from our kababayans clamoring that Duterte be sent back home to the Philippines.

Seems to me that we may have opened a can of worms and are now facing an even bigger issue that has been borne by this crisis – an issue that hits the core of our very own sovereignty. It is looking like the Filipino cannot accept a fellow citizen being handed over to another nation and face a court that is not within the jurisdiction of our own government.

Indeed we Filipinos are fierce in the face of discrimination. However, there also seems to be some residue not everyone particularly knows about. Bothersome? I strongly feel that it is, but partially because there is still so much to understand about the issue of the ICC. At least for me. But as I try to gain a better perspective, one thing seems clearer – the silence may have changed in some way. Voices are much louder but what is even clearer than this is the obvious polarization of our people and certainly, this hurts us as a nation.

Power, they say, is fleeting but respect is lasting. In the end, the conscience of a people is their power for it was not created to hold you prisoner but to guide and point you to freedom, especially when too much politics is harming us all.