Now that the tables have turned against the Dutertes, their calls for respect for human rights, the rule of law and the Constitution sound almost comical when you think about how they bastardized all these just a few years ago.
“Our country has never been in a more tragic state [than] it is today. Rights have been trampled upon and our laws derided,” former president Rodrigo Duterte said on Saturday as he condemned the police raid on the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KoJC) compound to serve arrest warrants for his long-time friend and benefactor, Pastor Apollo Quiboloy.
Coming from someone whose presidency was marked by the killing of thousands of suspected drug personalities as well as intimidation and imprisonment of critics, Duterte’s cry against abusive and violent enforcement of “illegal orders” could liken him to the proverbial man who cried wolf.
His daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, also issued a statement on Sunday condemning the “gross abuse of police power” in raiding the KoJC compound near the Davao City airport, which, she said, “led to the harassment of religious worshipers, the abuse of minors, and the unnecessary loss of life.”
She described the police actions as “not only a blatant violation of constitutionally protected rights but a betrayal of the trust that we, Filipinos, place in the very institution sworn to protect and serve us.”
The Dutertes appear to have very short memories. Have they forgotten how a relentless war on drugs, resulting in at least 12,000 violent deaths of suspected drug personalities, including innocent civilians and young students, was implemented during their heyday?
They are playing victims now that they can no longer control Congress and the bureaucracy. In fact, it is the Congress, both the Senate and the House of Representatives, that has been investigating and finding out about their shenanigans while they were in positions of power.
The Dutertes are desperate for attention and support. Separate investigations by the Senate and the House show discernible schemes that allowed the proliferation of Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs), China’s intrusions into the country’s exclusive economic zones, as well as unabated drug smuggling despite the thousands of drug-related extrajudicial killings.
Duterte has long forgotten about his campaign promise in 2016 to “solve drugs, criminality and corruption within three to six months of taking office.”
From the ongoing inquiries at the Senate and the House, it would appear that Duterte applied violent measures to eliminate the competition in favor of his Chinese friends who are supposedly into drug smuggling, POGOs and other syndicated criminal activities.
With the investigations pointing in the direction of personalities allied or associated with the Dutertes, they have taken steps to discredit and destabilize the Marcos Jr. administration. However, their game plans have so far failed to gain traction. They only make the Marcoses the lesser evil. But, as a friend pointed out, the lesser evil is still evil.
Issues of corruption, lavish spending on travels and failure to effectively control inflation still hound the Marcos administration. But, at least, its policies against China’s intrusions and the POGO operations have gained the support even of the legitimate opposition.
Because of these, the former president’s spokesman, Harry Roque, has turned to calling a people power uprising on EDSA following his 24-hour detention in an airconditioned room with amenities at the House of Representatives last week.
Talking to around 20 pro-Duterte vloggers on a pedestrian overpass on EDSA on Friday night, Roque called on the “millions” of Duterte followers to come out and fill the historic highway with warm bodies to oust Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Roque said the vloggers represent millions of Filipinos supporting the Dutertes.
He said his audience last Friday might have been small, but he exuded optimism the crowd would grow if they assembled there every Friday.
In her Sunday statement, the vice president apologized to the KoJC members and devotees for encouraging and appealing to them to vote for Marcos in 2022. “I hope you will forgive me. You deserve better. Filipinos deserve better,” she said.
Yes, madam vice president, Filipinos deserve better. But, the Dutertes are worse.
And to Sen. Bong Go, a longtime Duterte aide, we hope you had the same advice to law enforcers when you were in Malacañang. In a statement on Saturday, Go said: “Importante rito, ayusin ninyo ang inyong trabaho! Dapat po’y walang nasaktan. Kaya nga ang lagi kong payo sa mga pulis, just do what is right — proteksyunan ninyo ang buhay ng bawat Pilipino na walang bahid ng pang-aabuso at ng pulitika!”
The Dutertes and their allies displayed their power in arrogant ways until the tide turned against them.
The views in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of VERA Files.
This column also appeared in The Manila Times.
