ANO MAAASAHAN KAY BBM?

DAHIL hindi lumahok si BBM sa debate ng mga kandidato pampanguluhan noong panahon ng kampanya, palasak na katanungan ang kung ano ang maasahan sa kanyang gobyerno. Dahil hindi siya nagkaroon ng karera at trabaho sa buong buhay sa buong buhay maliban sa pulitiko, itinatanong ang kanyang kakayahan sa pagpapatakbo sa gobyerno. Suma tutal: itinatanong kung saan pupunta ang kanyang gobyerno at ano ang kahihitnan.

Tanging ang bayarang troll army ang nagdiriwang sa panalo umano ni BM sa nakaraang halalan. Hindi kinakitaan ng pagbubunyi ang bansa. Mistulang namatayan ang sambayanan. Mabuti pa noong nanalo ang kanyang ama na si Ferdinand Sr. Laban kay Diosdado Macapagal noong 1965. Hindi namin malilimutan ang pagbubunyi ng bansa. Nabuo ang salitang “walastik” noong 1965 dahil sa panalo ni FM kay DM.

Hindi tumakbo si BBM dahil sa pagmamahal sa bayan. Pangunahin layunin niya na linisin ang mabahong pangalan ng Marcos. Kakambal ng kanilang pangalan ang pandarambong sa bayan, pagsasamantala sa poder, at pagyurak sa karapatan pantao ng mga mahihirap. Ang gusto niya ay magbangon puri at hindi ang maglingkod sa sambayanan.

Malaki ang iiwan na utang ni Rodrigo Duterte, bagsak ang piso sa palitan pandaigdig; bagsak ang koleksyon ng buwis; bagsak ang export; mataas ang presyo ng mga bilihin; mataas ang halaga ng petrolyo; at hindi kinakikitaan ng sigla ang pandaigdigang pamilihan. Sa madaling salita, padausdos ang pambansa kabuhayan ng Filipinas. Saan pupunta ang Filipinas sa ilalim ni BBM na walang alam at kakayahan.

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HALAW ang mga sumusunod sa aming aklat “KILL KILL KILL: EJKs in the Philippines; Crimes Against Humanity vs. Duterte Et. Al. at the ICC.” Nasa huling yugto na ako na pagsusulat.

WORLD COURT FOR TYRANTS

THE global attention on Milosevic’s indictment and trial renewed calls to create a permanent world court for criminal-leaders, who used their powers to oppress people with impunity. World leaders and legal luminaries felt it was time to create a permanent judicial body to stop tyrants from engaging in abuses of their power against their own people. It was an idea that had come of age, they claimed. Hence, the United Nations, through the International Law Commission (ILC), one of its specialized bodies, came out with the draft of the Rome Statute, a multilateral treaty that has sought the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The Rome Statute was adopted at a diplomatic conference in Rome on July 17, 1998. The Rome Statute became enforceable on July 1, 2002 leading to the establishment of the ICC. The Rome Statute sets the ICC’s functions, jurisdiction, structure, and operational details. It establishes four core international crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. Under the Rome Statute, the ICC can only investigate and prosecute the four international crimes in situations where states could not do so themselves, or their domestic legal systems and courts have failed.

Under international law, states have a responsibility to investigate and appropriately prosecute (or extradite for prosecution) suspected perpetrators of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other international crimes. The ICC does not shift this responsibility. It is a court of last resort. Under what is known as the “principle of complementarity,” the ICC may only exercise its jurisdiction when a country is either unwilling or genuinely unable to investigate and prosecute these grave crimes. After an investigation has been opened, states and individual defendants can still challenge the lawfulness of cases before the court based on the existence of national proceedings. At least 123 countries have signed the Rome Statute.

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Timeline

• July 17, 1998 – The Rome Statute is adopted by 120 states, informally establishing the permanent ICC. Seven members of the United Nations vote against the statute: the United States, China, Iraq, Israel, Libya, Qatar and Yemen.

• July 1, 2002 – The Rome Statute enters into force after ratification by 60 countries.

• October 12, 2016 – Burundi votes to withdraw from the ICC, but is still listed as a party.

• October 21, 2016 – South Africa announces it is withdrawing from the ICC, saying parts of the Rome statute conflict with the country’s own laws which give heads-of-state, particularly ones they’re trying to reach peace and stability with, diplomatic immunity. In March 2017, South Africa officially cancelled its withdrawal.

• November 10, 2016 – Gambia notifies the ICC that it is withdrawing, citing bias against Africans. Gambia cancels its withdrawal in February 2017.

• November 16, 2016 – Russia says it will withdraw its signature from the ICC treaty, under a directive signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

• October 27, 2017 – Burundi effectively withdraws from the ICC, becoming the first member state to do so.

• March 14, 2018 – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte says in a statement that the country has given notice that it will withdraw from the ICC. The announcement follows the ICC’s February 8 statement that it has started an inquiry into Duterte’s controversial war on drugs. The action goes into effect on March 17, 2019.

Source: CNN International Website

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CORE CRIMES. The Rome Statute has identified at least four core crimes that fall under its jurisdiction: genocide, war crimes, war of aggression and crimes against humanity. It defines these crimes on the basis of international precedents, pacts, and conventions, which codify them. The Rome Statute, for instance, defines genocide as an act with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group by killing or physically harming the members of these groups. It includes act deliberately intended to impoise conditions for their destruction, prevent births within groups, or forcibly transfer the children of these groups to other groups.

Broadly, a war crime, according to the international law, violates the laws of war, giving rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by the combatants such as intentionally killing and toruring prisoners of war, taking hostages, destroying civilian property, deception by perfidy, wartime sexual violence, pillaging, the conscription of children in the military, granting of no quarter despite surrender, and flouting the legal distinctions of proportionality and military necessity. The Rome Statute provides an expanded definition to include willful killing, or causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, torture or inhumane treatment to prisoners of war, wanton destruction or appropriation of property, forcing a prisoner of war to serve in the forces of a hostile power, depriving a prisoner of war of a fair trial, unlawful deportation, confinement or transfer, taking hostages, and directing attacks against civilians

In many instances, core crimes under Rome Statute overlap in their scope. A war crime could be a genocide as well. The Rome Statute says crimes of aggression involve invasion, occupation, annexation by the use of force, bombardment, and military blockade of ports by one state to the territory of another. It punishes the persons who are engaged in the planning, preparation, initiation or execution of such attack by one state to another state. The crimes of aggression was a latecomer in the ICC core crimes. It was included only in the first Review Conference on the Rome Statute on May 31 – June 11, 2010 in Kampala, Uganda. The conference has defined the crimes of aggression for inclusion within ICC’s jurisdiction.

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MGA PILING SALITA: “Payo kay Imee Marcos: Magpakumbaba.” – PL, netizen

“The incoming government should completely abandon the oppressive policies of Rodrigo Duterte and Arturot Tugade against the provincial bus operators.” – PL, netizen

“The next administration should not sugarcoat the problems we have. They did not cause the problem. It was caused by the present admin, the mismanagement of the pandemic, and the invasion of Ukraine. My advice is tell the public the truth.” – Sen. Franklin Drilon