THE RECENT position taken by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) against Sen. Ronald dela Rosa should make many Filipinos, especially loyal Duterte supporters, pause and rethink the information they have long consumed online.
For years, paid vloggers and fake news pages repeated the same claims: the International Criminal Court (ICC) supposedly has no authority over the Philippines, the ICC is merely a “foreign court,” and any investigation is foreign interference.
But now, the government’s own lawyers are contradicting many of those claims.
In its filing before the Supreme Court, the OSG argued that Dela Rosa’s petition to stop a possible arrest should not prosper, stressing that legal remedies should not be used to escape accountability and that no Philippine court warrant is needed to enforce the ICC arrest against dela Rosa.
That hits the nail right on its head.
First, the ICC is not a “Dutch court” simply because it is based in The Hague.
That is like saying the United Nations is an American agency because it is located in New York.
The ICC is an international tribunal created through the Rome Statute by different member-countries. Its role is to investigate grave crimes, especially when local justice systems fail or refuse to act seriously.
Second, withdrawal from the ICC does not automatically erase possible responsibility.
The Philippines remained a member until 2019. The alleged drug war killings being investigated happened while the country was still under ICC jurisdiction. This is why the ICC maintains it can continue its investigation.
This is not an argument invented by critics. It is based on the Rome Statute itself.
Third, this issue is no longer just about political opposition attacking the Dutertes. Even the OSG, the government’s own legal defender, is now warning against using technicalities to avoid accountability.
Still, DDS-aligned vloggers continue to twist the issue and bury the public in legal jargon, hoping confusion will replace understanding.
But ordinary Filipinos are asking simple questions.
If the drug war was lawful, why fear investigation?
If officials truly believe they followed the law, why avoid the legal process?
For years, supporters of the drug war mocked human rights advocates and victims’ families with the line: “If you did nothing wrong, why be afraid?”
Now that accountability is moving closer to powerful figures, due process and constitutional rights have suddenly become sacred.
True, every accused person deserves due process. That is a constitutional right.
But justice loses meaning when rights are demanded only for the powerful while poor victims killed without trial and buried without answers were denied those same protections.
In the end, this issue is no longer just about politics.
It is about whether justice in the Philippines applies equally to everyone, or only to those without power, wealth, position and influence.
