BINUBUHAY ANG PATAY

HINDI namin alam kung anong masamang hangin ang dumapo sa gobyernong BBM at muling binubuhay ang patay. Inuulat na tapos na ang negosasyon tungkol sa mga proyektong perokaril tulad ng Philippine National Railway South Long Haul Project or the PNR Bicol, the Subic-Clark Railway Project, at Mindanao Railway. Pero muling nakipag-usap kamakailan si Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista kay Huang Xilian, ang aroganteng sugo ng China sa Filipinas, upang buhayin ang mga naturang proyekto. Ginanap ang pag-uusap hindi sa neutral na lugar – ang Embahada ng China sa Makati City.

Walang sinabing dahilan ang magkabilang panig kung bakit binubuhay ni Bautista ang mga patay na proyekto. Winakasan ang mga proyekto ni Sonny Dominguez, dating kalihim sa pananalapi ng administrasyon ni Rodrigo Duterte, dahil sa mas mataas ang interes na ipinapataw ng China sa anumang pautang sa Filipinas. Humihingi ng tatlong porsiyento kada taon na interes ang China sa patay na ang mga proyekto. Malayong-malayong sa .1% na hinhingi ng Japan.

Nagbabala ang ilang sektor sa mga pautang ng China sa Filipinas dahil ayaw nilang matulad sa Sri Lanka na nabaon sa utang. Iniilit ng China ang ilang teritoryo at proyekto ng Sri Lanka dahil hindi makapagbayad sa mga utang. Magiging katawa-tawa ang Filipinas sa world community kung uutang ng malaki sa China at hindi mabayaran.

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HINDI kailangan ang pangatlong telco dahil sapat na ang PLDT Group at Globe Telecom upang tumugon sa pangangailangan ng bansa sa telekomunikasyon. Kalabisan ang DitoTel. Kailangan lamang paunlarin ang serbisyo ng PLDT at Globe. Tanging si Duterte ang nagpilit sa DitoTel.

Inamin ni Duterte na hindi nakakatuwa ang serbisyo ng dalawang higante. Mabagal ang Internet. Isa sa pinakamabagal sa Asya. Ngunit palpak ang sagot ni Duterte – pilit na ipinasok ang DitoTelna China ang pangunahing namumuhunan. Hindi pinagtitiwalaan ang DitoTel dahil may perception na banta ito sa national security ng Filipinas. Nasa loob kasi ng mga kampo militar ang ilang cell site at transmitter ng mismong DitoTel.

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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.

JURISDICTIONAL REQUIREMENT

THE first information, researched and developed by the legislative staff of Trillanes and Alejano and their Magdalo colleagues and filed by Jude Josue Sabio, who injected the legal viewpoint and legalese language, made clear its intent and spirit. Incidentally, a complaint lodged before the ICC is dubbed as “information.” This is to de-emphasize the complaint aspect. The ICC reserves its right to act on or ignore the information on the basis of its Rome Statute, its charter. For reason of precision, the complete quote of the information:

“In this communication, what is being sought to be brought to the subject matter jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court are the crimes against humanity through extra-judicial or summary executions constituting mass murder ‘repeatedly, unchangingly and continuously’ being committed and undertaken by President Duterte when he was still the Mayor of Davao City through his Davao Death Squad and later when he became the President of the Philippines on and after 30 June 2016. This ‘repeated, unchanging and continuous’ commission of mass murder carried out as part of a systematic or widespread attack against a civilian population falls within the definition of a crime against humanity through murder pursuant to the Elements of Crime set out by the Assembly of States Parties, and as provided for under Article 5, Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Clearly, this continuing commission of mass murder constituting a crime against humanity falls within the subject matter jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.”

The information clarified the scope of its complaint. Even Duterte committed crimes against humanity when he was Davao City mayor since 1988, “only those acts of mass murder carried out or undertaken after August 2011, which is the time that the Philippines became a state party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, are being submitted to the temporal jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.” It has made clear that “Rodrigo Duterte, the one being charged in the information, is a national and resident of the Philippines, which is a state party to the Rome Statute, clearly falls within the personal jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.” Moreover, the Duterte’s co-defendants are “nationals and residents of the Philippines and fall within the personal jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.”

The information acknowledged and affirmed that the war on drugs was Duterte’s centerpiece program during the political campaign in 2016, but said he never condemned the impunity associated with what the information described a “virulent and brutal national campaign against illegal drugs,” which he himself had launched immediately after he was sworn in as president. On the contrary, Duterte claimed publicly that his war on drugs was a “success” on the basis of the number of the thousands of persons who were killed. Critics claimed killing a huge number of people could never be a success. His weird sense of success was noticeable to the point of absurdity. On the contrary, the information noticed the increasing crescendo of the criticisms against his bloody government and it said:

“President Duterte has been continuously and without let-up lashing out at his critics with profanity-laced utterances. Never at any instance has it been recorded that President Duterte ever condemned the 7,000 to 8,000 drug related killings, citing it instead as proof of the success of his war on drugs. Neither has he taken direct action by issuing any proclamation or executive order for his administrative agencies in his executive department to bring to criminal justice persons responsible – and that includes himself – for crimes against humanity which are precisely the subject matter being brought before the International Criminal Court through this communication. Instead of condemning the thousands of extra-judicial executions and bringing to criminal justice the perpetrators thereof, including himself, he even incited the police and civilians to mass violence and recently vowed to continue his war on drugs or the mass murder up to the end of his six-year presidential term. “

To stress the failure of state agencies to run after the perpetrators of the EJKs associated with Duterte’s war on drugs, the information said:

“Consequently, at the national level, national investigation agencies in the Duterte government like the Department of Justice, particularly its National Bureau of Investigation, and the Philippine National Police, have not launched nor conducted any national investigation into the kind of situation that is being brought before the International Criminal Court through this communication. More particularly, these investigatory agencies supposed to be mandated to conduct investigations into reported incidents of crime have not opened, much less conducted, any probe or investigation dealing specifically with the potential criminal responsibility or liability of President Duterte and his senior officials of his administration, in the historical context of the Davao Death Squad, over the continuing commission of mass murder or extrajudicial executions before in Davao City under this Davao Death Squad and later in his war on drugs at the national level carried out as part of a systematic or widespread attack directed against a civilian population.”