Speaking as an anarchist, who advocates for a society based on voluntary cooperation, without hierarchical government, Gary Granada, musician, poet, philosopher, teacher, and public intellectual, takes the discourse higher, explains why we are all complicit and now paying the price.
Duterte, ICC and Me
(An Anarchist View)Imagine for a moment that it is the entire Philippine State being indicted before the international community. On what charge? For failure to fulfill its international obligation to uphold the rights of its citizens. Worse, for systematically carrying out the crimes themselves.
Of course you can’t haul an entire state before the international court, so you do the next best thing – you bring the embodiment of that state. That means the Government during the time the violations happened. But you also can’t fit an entire government machinery in a jet plane. So you send the embodiment of that Government – which is the President.
But it’s Duterte’s undoing, why the entire nation-state? Because a State is accountable for acts done by its agents in their official capacity. Which means that if Duterte is convicted, it formalizes for one thing the liability of the Philippine State to pay damages to the families of EJK victims under his watch.
[ They might want to consider suing the government, or legislators might want to draft a bill “moto propio” ]
Are you hallucinating? Not at all, in fact we’ve already done the exact same thing in recent past. Government started paying the human rights victims during Martial Law in 2013, remember? Marcos was long dead by then, no one to jail anymore. In short, just like this time, a lot of murderers got away with murder. But not the entire State. Think of it as a “continuing crime” – thru time. So who paid the price ultimately?
We, us all – pro-Marcos, anti-Marcos, fence sitters, clueless. The fund, the offices, the overhead costs – all Government property and resources. Instead of hospitals, schools, science and technology, irrigation, housing – the money was spent to pay for the crimes perpetrated by the State.
I think it’s a useful narrative to help instruct young Filipinos moving forward – to the end that they better make sure it never happens again, lest pay the price again. Never mind global humiliation.
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Some Discussion References for Students:
https://hrvvmc.gov.ph/irr-ra_10368/
https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v1/rule149
https://www.britannica.com/…/state-sovereign-political…
Though Duterte represented the Philippines, there are thousand of Filipinos who didn’t share his perspective so much more his misdeeds.
He should suffer for the crimes. This seems less compared to the benefits his family has gained over the six-year term when he was the Philippine president.
Millions of Filipinos, actually, didn’t share his perspective that it was all right to kill without due process. It boggles the mind that his diehard supporters continue to insist that he doesn’t deserve to suffer for his crimes just because he’s old na.