For the first time, in a long long while, cheap rice or its supply, isn’t in everybody mind but the fate of a former president who’s now in the hands of an international court. Historic you can say. The eventual verdict can only be guilty or not guilty. Some, presumably those on the suspect’s camp, may already be sleepless, haunted and inhabited by all sorts of imaginary possibilities.
It’s a national angst.
The claim of the former president’s camp that he was shangh–ied– kidnapped –on the way to the court is no longer the issue. What matters now is that he is bodily present and controlled body and mind by the International Criminal Court. Thanks to a Philippine government that made it easy for the ICC to arrest him via the Interpol. Or blame Machiavelli which means the end justifies the means. The old/new kid on the block has warned it could happen.
Look at the positive side.
It’s the consensus of many Filipino lawyers that the former president, who’s facing the charge of crime against humanity over his notorious war on drugs, is in good hands, the best and fairest court outside of a heaven.
Fairness, according to Potter Stewart, is justice. The former most powerful man in the Philippines in his watch will have both while his camp insists that his human rights were violated on the way to the jet plane that flew him to the Netherlands.
A dose of his own medicine, critics point out, when thousands of
Flipinos were sent to the grave without being told of their own rights.In the former president’s case, at least he was read his Miranda rights by his captor, minus the snappy salute.But it was clear power had gone from him. The official number is no less than 6,000 who lost their liver, probably even as high as 30,000 in the infamous war on drugs.
In sense, the former president is still lucky. Not only is he alive and well – his lawyer told the ICC all-woman judges that he was not well. To the contrary, the three angels said, the ICC doctor found him mentally and physically fit to be in the court. It was noticeable that the former strongman suffered a tongue problem when he was asked to identify himself. For the first time, he seemed nervous. Jokes had deserted him to make light his visual and viral experience or perceived ordeal.
The ICC will even help the former president in his defense of himself, according to the Filipino lawyers who are familiar with the ICC system like the back of their hands. For one, the former president will like the idea being a lawyer himself, of given enough time to prepare his defense. For another, and this one is unheard off in the Philippine courts, the ICC will disclose to him pieces of evidence that will be favorable to him.
In other words, the ICC will be friendly to him.
It should work also in the former president’s case that a former ICC judge will now his lead counsel in defense. It should be a bonus. Right now, the counsel, a British-Israeli international law expert
has promised two things: 1) his client will be acquitted and 2) he will come home.
The pollyannaish lawyer should know whereof he spoke: he’s been there and done that. In other words, he knows his way around legally and is familiar with the ICC terrain. Beside, he must be aware of the famous Nuremberg trial. He could use whatever lessons he learned from it.
There is only thing that worries Filipino ICC lawyers: the former president himself. He has uttered mea culpas himself on many occasions in the past , official and nonofficial, that ICC will certainly use them against him. It’s on record and there’s no way of denying them.Of course, his camp will employ the usual playbook: he was just kidding.
If the ICC will get the joke, miracles might just happen and the former president could have the last laugh
In the meantime, the former president’s supporters – and especially the trolls—are advised to stop the fake news and misinformation, even the public rallies, on social media. They are not helping their idol’s case. It might even work against him. The protests makes him increasingly a flight risk.
Besides, the ICC is immune from public opinion, or there would be no need for the lead counsel. Otherwise, trolls can do the job for the former president in jail. Probably, much cheaper too.
So, whether you a pro or a con, relax, the former president is in good hands. He might be suffering from homesickness, he will get used to it. Between now and September, there is enough time to adjust and get accustomed to live in a jailhouse.His former victim, a woman senator went through more than six years in jail with no legal basis but the whim and will of the powerful in a Darwinian setting and emerged a stronger person after she was set free by a compromised judicial system.
Better yet, listen to Alan Peter Cayetano’s non-partisan plea: more prayers, No one can go wrong with these that can move mountains, even the puny hearts of three women who can see if the former president’s patriotism is genuine or not. Softer hearts may have more wisdom than cold brains.
