Comedy is defiance. It's a snort of contempt in the face of fear and anxiety. And it's the laughter that allows hope to creep back on the inhale.
— American comedian Will Durst

MAYPAJO, Caloocan City — For our column today, let me share the opinion of one of my closest friend, Romy Morales, who is now in Alaska, enjoying the snow while playing with the polar bears and narwhal (I presume) . . .

"Looks like the world is now abuzz with Rodrigo Duterte, the former president of the Philippines over his arrest and subsequent detention at the International Criminal Court, even though the country is no longer a member of the international tribunal where the ICC is required by international law to not detain someone who has a warrant against him.
Let’s take a back seat for a while and see what really happened.
As everyone knew, Duterte’s war on drugs has seen the death of hundreds of people, including children, who have been called collateral damage.
The International Criminal Court investigated him for crimes against humanity in connection with the killings of thousands of Filipinos. The Philippines used to be an ICC member.
The ICC’s began looking into the alleged crimes of Duterte’s so-called Davao Death Squad, when he was mayor of Davao in 2011. It should be noted that the Philippines joined the ICC in 2011.
The probe began in that year and continued till 2019, during Duterte’s presidency. The alleged crime for which an inquiry against him was authorized and for which the Court has jurisdiction is within the time frame when the Philippines was still a member of the ICC.
Duterte withdrew the Philippines’ membership in the international court in 2018, while he was still president, and the decision was accepted in March 2019.
At the Philippine government’s request, the investigation was temporarily halted in 2021 after it claimed it had a functioning judicial system capable of investigating and prosecuting Duterte’s alleged abuses. However, the ICC dissatisfied with the Philippine effort, resumed its probe in 2023.
Now, what transpired just a few days ago that led to Duterte’s arrest might be ascribed to a series of blunders committed by the Duterte’s one after the other.
Let me be clear about where I stand on this first. This piece is neither pro-Duterte nor anti-Duterte, nor does it belong to or lean toward any particular color group—yellow, red, green (color that identifies Sara) or pink.
No. As I evaluate the circumstances that led to Duterte’s easy capture and eventual confinement at the ICC jail, where he will be able to face and answer the accusations made against him, what you will read here is, on the contrary, founded on the logical sequence of events.
When the sealed (take note sealed) arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court was leaked to the Duterte’s apparently by someone from the Philippine National Police, the former president flew to Hong Kong ostensibly to meet and greet and thank his hordes of followers—the overseas contract workers—but some pundits thought otherwise that Duterte was in fact seeking China’s assistance. Duterte is closely identified with China, who is not also a member of the court of last resort.
His sudden departure despite his failing health has sparked widespread speculation that he was attempting to evade arrest, something he has been adamant he would not do. So, if it were true, this is his first big blunder.
He could have simply stayed in Davao, waited for the warrant to be served, and let his millions of followers protect him like what the disciples of the Kingdom of Jesus did to Pastor Quiboloy, when they shielded him from arrest.
Duterte has more of a fighting chance if he was in his own territory and we might have seen a kind of resistance not to our liking.
Unfortunately, whether he was seeking China’s assistance for a possible help or asylum, we can only deduce that nothing of sort happened, since he traveled back to Manila. However, China did not completely abandon him by way of warning the ICC against politicizing his arrest.
Flying back to the Philippines, which left him no other options, was his second blunder. He was going straight into the hornet’s nest, for as the world saw it, he was arrested upon arrival. Easy, like eating peanuts. Although there were some shouting matches, which is expected, it would have been much different if it were in Davao.
Where before, when President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and the Duterte’s were one as a political team, Marcos even declared he would not permit the ICC to arrest Duterte in any shape or form.
Unfortunately, the alliance broke, and Duterte started branding the incumbent president of being a drug dependent or a drug user. Marcos retaliated by claiming that the former president also uses drugs.
Then Sara Duterte, the vice president of Marcos had also a falling out after she was asked to account for the confidential funds that was released to her. The vice president charged that the President was behind the probe.
Threats to remove the president from office, including death threats were carelessly thrown into the airwaves and it went wild. These developments forced Marcos to take action or risk getting drown with them.
When the warrant of arrest was served, the President who had every option at his disposal, including the power to stop the arrest warrant, chose not to do so. He made an about-face and declared that in compliance with the agreement with the Interpol when it sought their assistance, Duterte has been arrested and flown to the Hague.
Likewise, in Section 17 of Republic Act No. 9851, it allows the Philippines to turn over suspect or accused individuals to an international court for crimes covered by the 2009 approved Republic Act, including crimes against humanity. It appears that no prosecution has been brought against Duterte in any Philippine court as yet for the alleged crime that has been attributed to him, the ICC has more jurisdiction over him, and Republic Act No. 9851 becomes pertinent.
Duterte now under the custody of the Hague where he can probably languish in jail from five to six years or maybe more depending on how fast or slow the case would proceed. He faces a sentence of roughly 30 years in jail or, worse, life in prison if found guilty.
However, whatever decision the ICC may impose is still appealable. Considering Duterte’s health and physical condition, there is this a strong probability he might not see the light of day in Davao anymore. And this would be very unfortunate for him.
Whether it is the law of man or the law of God that we have to face, one thing is certain: no matter how long it takes, the law will ultimately catch up with us for any transgression we commit against another person.
This is a day of reckoning. This is accountability—plain and simple.

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FINALLY, for some of us keen observers in former presidential spokesperson Atty. Herminio 'Harry' Roque's successful evasion of his arrest by authorities on the contempt charges filed against him, it only confirms his 'close' connection with the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) as he most likely used the same route that dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo took when she left the country to elude arrest.
And now in a posh hotel in the Netherlands, Atty. Roque seeks political asylum as he claims persecution here in the Philippines from government officials and administration lawmakers who are out, he believes, to crucify the Dutertes and their allies. He's also in The Hague as one of former president Rodrigo Roa Duterte's lawyers as he has been recognized as a legal counsel for the former Philippine president by the ICC.

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FOR your comments or suggestions, complaints or requests, just send a message through my email at cipcab2006@yahoo.com or text me at cellphone numbers 09171656792 or 09171592256 during office hours from Monday to Friday. Thank you and mabuhay!