Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go in his statement at the hearing conducted by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the alleged illegal arrest of former President Rodrigo R. Duterte, said it was already a useless exercise. The reason, according to the Davaoeno senator, the arrest has already happened and the former chief executive is already in the detention center of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands and bringing him back to the Philippines is a remote possibility.
Of course we are not certain if the hearing initiated by no less than Presidential sister Imee Marcos is merely for show and grandstanding. After all, while she may appear admirable to some as maintaining an independent stand from that of her brother, many are also suspecting her of simultaneously navigating in two rivers. In Filipino dialect “Namamangka sa dalawang ilog.” For self-preservation, may be.
Besides, we have not heard of Senator Marcos emphatically announcing her committee’s probe as “in aid of legislation.” Filipinos know very well that she is aware that the laws, rules and other guidelines governing arrest of persons subject to trial by the ICC are clear and that nothing is worth amending as these have remained effective.
Even Philippine laws and procedures for the same purpose are intact and valid. The only problem, we believe, is that those tasked to implement these laws and processes are the ones bending these same laws and policies. So what is there to merit the crafting of new laws or procedures that are implementable in our country’s own legal system?
So Senator Go may be right in his claim. More so if his abhorrence of the ongoing Senate hearing is on its relevance in the arrest and banishing and jailing of Duterte inside the cooled wall of the ICC incarceration chamber.
Indeed the non-compliance of the arrest procedures of an ICC wanted person by the local law enforcing units just so our government could comply with its supposed obligation as member of an international police entity is clear subservience to foreign power. Therefore, it is surrendering our sovereignty with hardly any whimper of protest.
Many political observers in the country though, believe that on the very first day of the Senate hearing, the ineptness, the “ignorance” of a number of agency heads involved in the Duterte arrest were already exposed. It was also clear that the arresting officers and those who processed the former President’s “forced” flight to Netherlands violated almost, if not all, the protocols governing such kind of attest.
Will the Senate, through its proper bodies, initiate the corresponding legal action on those involved in the former President’s illegal arrest? Or, will the Upper House through the appropriate committee, just spearhead the amendment of existing laws governing arrest of persons with cases in the ICC? If the Senate opts for the latter then it is abetting the mockery of the laws the government, through its proper agencies, is tasked to implement?
May be too, if the Senate would prefer amending the existing laws on implementing ICC-requested arrest, then the members of the Upper Chamber may be anticipating another Filipino top official to be hailed to the same international court.
******************************
In a few more days the official campaign period for candidates to local elective positions will commence. What do the people expect by then? Certainly there will be avalanche of printed campaign materials ranging from the smallest in size to the maximum allowable by law. There will be vehicles announcing the names of these and those candidates hoping that they register in the consciousness of every voter way until election comes.
We can also expect the more serious candidates to conduct town hall-like meetings and even individual house visits to show the people their earnestness in their desire to serve the city. That duration will also be the time that mud-throwing and self-building of candidates’ personalities will be at its peak. All gimmickry will be launched just to convince the electorate they (the candidates) deserve their support.
Given this mode of enticing the people’s support we can only hope that no one candidate will ever resort to intimidation and use of brute force just to attain their objective of winning in the polls
-30-.
