DAVAO City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte aired his anger against President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and the Congress over their collective cooperation in investigating the alleged extrajudicial killings during the “war on drugs” campaign of his father, former President Rodrigo R. Duterte (FPRRD).
This, after several members of Congress and the current administration are considering the legal help of the International Criminal Court (ICC) over Duterte’s violent killings from 2016 to 2022.
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Defending his father, the city’s highest-ranking politician expressed his sentiments to more than 50,000 citizens during a prayer rally on January 28, 2024, saying that the Marcoses are ungrateful for the efforts done by their family to bury former dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in 2017.
It can be recalled that the move of FPRRD to allow Ferdinand Marcos Sr. to be laid to rest at the Libingan ng mga Bayani earned massive protests and calls from millions of Filipinos to dishonor the heroism of Marcos for being responsible for the human rights abuses, extrajudicial killings, torture, and enforced disappearance during martial law.
“Kanang ICC, gusto lang gyud nako igawas, timan-i ninyo, inyong amahan ra ba [Former President Marcos Sr.] gipalubong sa akong amahan – kana na lang gyud unta. Mawad-an na gyud ko'g respeto ninyo. Sobra na pod kaayo,” Mayor Duterte said during the “Unity for One Nation, One Prayer” rally at the San Pedro Square in San Pedro Street, Davao City on the evening of January 28.
(Regarding the ICC, I want to bring this up here: remember that it was my father who allowed the burial of your father. I hope you will remember that, but if not then I will really lose my respect for you. That’s too much!).
Prior to this event, the mayor, during the Hakbang ng Maisug campaign at the Grand Men Seng Hotel on the same day, urged Marcos to resign for his incompetent leadership.
“Mr. President, kung wala kang pag-ibig at aspirations para sa iyong bansa, resign” Duterte said as part of his 12-minute address.
(If you don’t have love nor aspirations in your country, resign).
It should be noted that in the past two years, Marcos had always been telling the media that they would only allow the ICC to enter the country as visitors and not as investigators.
In fact, in 2022, Marcos said the country officially withdrew its membership from the ICC in 2019 when Duterte was still the president.
However, last November 2023, Marcos confirmed that the ICC was planning to return to the Philippines as one of the highest criminal court’s member-states despite emphasizing that there are still concerns on sovereignty and jurisdiction. DEF
