VICE PRESIDENT Sara Duterte, Davao City Mayor Baste Duterte, Senators Imee Marcos and Robin Padilla, as well as Senator-elect Rodante Marcoleta, are right now in The Hague, Netherlands, to hold some kind of protest rallies against the incarceration of former President Rodrigo R. Duterte in a detention center run by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The former President is charged with crimes against humanity as an offshoot of his “bloody” war against drugs during his stint as Davao City Mayor, and later as President of the Philippines. The rallies held are not just a show of support for the former President but a means of sending a strong message to the ICC to release the elder Duterte.
The question is, can the ICC be pressured by the solid show of force by Filipinos coming from different nearby countries in Europe? It is common knowledge that the ICC is an international body organized by countries that committed their support to the organization and promised to abide by the provisions of its Charter without reservation.
Therefore, the member countries owe loyalty to no one member except itself and its commitment to the requirements of the international court. In the case of the Philippines, which unilaterally terminated its membership in late 2019 for obvious reasons, it is still deemed obligated to comply with its obligations in the ICC charter since the period covered in the investigation of the crimes committed, the country was still a member of the organization.
Thus, there exist two schools of thought on the validity of the arrest of the former Philippine leader. Some claim that the ICC has no more jurisdiction over the former President as the country is no longer a member. But there are others who insist that the former Philippine leader can still be arrested by the ICC because the alleged crime committed by FPRRD against humanity happened during the time that the country was still an ICC member.
Hence, those who believe in the former school of thought are certainly among those who prominently figure in the rallies at The Hague. And those who are not joining any of those protest gatherings, either in the Philippines or at The Hague, are those who believe FPRRD is still liable.
Another question the answer to which is worth watching is, “How long can the Netherlands government tolerate the seeming “exportation” of the Filipinos’ brand of protest action to a country known for its strong adherence to a peaceful society?
Will the Netherlands’ society and government not find it annoying that aliens in their country are creating so much noise in the name of “freedom of expression?”
We can only hope that the Netherlanders will not have their patience wearing thin faster. We Filipinos might be placed in a more embarrassing situation if told we have already exceeded our limit in the exercise of protest.
********************************
A survey conducted for the year 2024 by the Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media says the basic literacy rate of Davao City’s population aged 5 years old and above is 93.5 percent. It is the highest in the whole of the Davao Region.
We are, however, a bit surprised to learn that females with the same ages recorded a higher basic literacy rate, with a 91.1 percent compared to males who registered only 89.4 percent. This is according to Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Region XI Chief Statistical Specialist Randolph Anthony Gales.
Surprising us even more is the result in the survey that Davao de Oro, a relatively new province in the region, ranks second with a very slight difference from that of Davao City’s basic literacy rate. Davao de Oro has 91.3%, which a 2.2% lower than that of Davao City..
The lowest in the Southern Mindanao Region in basic literacy rate is the newest Province of Davao Occidental, formerly a component of Davao del Sur. Its population of the same age bracket, 5 years old and older, is at 74.2 percent.
Basic literacy is the “ability of a person to read and write simple messages in any language or dialect with understanding, and to compute or perform basic mathematical operations.”
What intrigued us, somehow, is how the Province of Davao del Norte is “missing” in the list of areas for the basic literacy status of its population. So is Davao Oriental.
Were these two provinces in the region excluded from the survey? Our take is that many are still interested in knowing their places in the determination of the basic literacy rate of the provinces, specifically their officials.
It is a problem that they will be interested in solving in cooperation with other agencies of the national government.
