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Suspected of the crimes against humanity of murder and attempted murder, allegedly committed in the Republic of the Philippines between 1 November 2011 and 16 March 2019. Surrendered to the custody of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on 12 March 2025. Confirmation of charges hearing to open on 23 February 2026
Ibon’s Rosario Guzman: The nation’s structure is collapsing because of political instability and a fragile economy due to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s ‘blunders.’ The first was adopting an anti-corruption stance in announcing the anomalous flood control projects while remaining silent on the pork barrel issue.
Niang added that Duterte’s complaints that he is “old, tired, and frail” are irrelevant, again citing the experts’ unanimous conclusion that he “is an unreliable historian in regard to assessment of his health and mental fitness.”
As the Marcos administration continues to flaunt their relative achievements in a “bloodless” drug war—multiple arrests, tons of confiscated illegal drugs—repeatedly left out of these narratives are the still unmitigated violence that is increasingly perpetrated by criminal elements said to be outside the reach of state forces. And again, state agents continue to kill. The “bloodless” drug war continues, and more so, and as before, spills over to innocent civilians. Their increasing death count cannot simply be dismissed as insignificant casualties.
Unprogrammed Appropriations is defended in the name of efficiency. But efficiency without accountability is not reform—it is risk.UA weakens the separation of powers It tempts the Executive to complete Congress’ work. It encourages the invention of fiscal triggers. And it facilitates opacity and pork.
As secretary of Justice, Aguirre announced that “The criminals, the drug lords, drug pushers, they are not humanity. They are not humanity.”
The exhumation, part of the process of healing for the relatives of the victims of extra-judicial killings during the war on drugs waged by the government of former president Rodrigo Duterte, was doubly significant at it transpired a week before the confirmation of hearings of Duterte and his co-perpetrators at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands on Feb. 23.
A fractured Senate is a weak Senate. If leaders are busy managing internal conflict, the chamber cannot effectively serve as a check on the Marcos administration or as a counterweight to the Dutertes. Instead of focusing on laws and oversight, senators are distracted by survival
Notably, the panel of ICC-chosen medical experts included a section titled “Concerning Reliability,” which Kaufman objected to. In it, the chamber noted that the panel unanimously agreed that “Mr Duterte is an unreliable historian concerning his health and mental functions” and that “Mr Duterte’s complaints of memory difficulty and apparent impaired performance on assessment are disproportionate to his observed abilities at interview.”That is a polite way of saying Duterte’s words cannot be taken at face value—hardly news to Filipinos.
In the end, the question is not merely whether Sara Duterte can run in 2028. It is whether the country is prepared to confront the tension between political power and legal accountability, and what it means when the two collide long before a single vote is cast.
