Harry Roque is missing Shakespeare’s soft nurse: sleep. He confessed to have been sleepless after former President Duterte called him about a bad, very bad, news. The former president,a strong man, if you will, told him that he had bee n tipped off that he could be arrested anytime. Timeline is vague but the news is not preposterous.
The bad news is enough to keep his adrenalin up and his serotonin low. Mother, mother, I am sick, call the doctor very quick. A better lawyer maybe a better alternative if the perceived threat to freedom materializes. All bets are off, if that happens. As a self-proclaimed international law experts, Roque knows the possibilities. And they are scary.
Sovereignty isn’t really the issue. Lawyers worth their salt know this is not true. When the government signed the treaty before the strong man’s time, it surrendered part of it. The Supreme Court knows this and has affirmed it.Under the treaty’s provision, if you are found guilty of a crime while still a member, the International Criminal Court can still run after you even after you have withdrawn later from the treaty.
Whatever hemming and hawing there is about it, officially of not, will just be delaying the agony or possibilities. Of course, China is only a few miles away. If . comes to shove, a jet ski will be handy. Unless Chinese boats become scarce.
The former president used to scare himself of the fact that Chinese jets can reach the nearest Philippine point in minutes. Better be friendly with them, a well-know foreign policy that emboldened the Chinese nine-dash line theory on the South China Sea.
Why should Roque lose sleep? He has never been implicated in the alleged commission of a massive crime against humanity in the war against drugs that cost the lives of about 6,000 people. That’s the official version. The unofficial version puts it at around 30,000.
Between fact and fiction, there should be accountability. And that’s where the ICC comes in. Nobody complained about it before because it was seen as a safeguard against anything or anybody that treats life is worth less than it is.Now that the previous administration is found wanting, it suddenly becomes irrelevant.
Roque isn’t shaking in his boots yet. But the threat is real. President Bongbong Marcos had earlier vowed that the ICC probers will have to pass over his dead body before any probe could be done. Times are a-changing, as B ob Dylan sung. He now says that can’t stop them from coming into the country, perhaps in the guise of tourists, to visit the land.
Strangely, former senator Leila de Lima has been unusually quiet while the ICC probers were said to be all over town gathering evidence or more of it. In the meantime, Senator Ronald dela Rosa has challenged PBBM to man up while expressing fear that he could be taken away from his grandchildren.
The new spokeperson for the opposition should open her mouth to address Roque’s sleepless night. Truth is its own anesthetics. Sleep, perchance to dream. At the very least, she should disabuse him of his notion that the opposition has something to do with the former president’s ordeal?
Truth is, true to the former president’s threat, he is in fact the leader of the new opposition. He has called the military and police to stop PBBM and his allies from amending the Constitution. There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s good as advertised by no less than Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilarion Davide.It ain’t broke,why fix it?
One thing is sure at this juncture: President Duterte is already a spent force. He’s obviously engaged in shadowboxing, hoping to lure the real and true champ to fistfight. There are no takers. Both the military and the police have shown who calls the shot, and it’s no longer the former president.
Even former Senate President Johnny Enrile has one good advice to PBBM:ignore the dragon on the driveway. He can’t do anything but make noise. He should know whereof he spoke. Once upon a time in Philippine history, he joined Police Constabulary chief Fidel V. Ramos in defying a dictator while holding an Uzi in his hand while Ramos leaped for joy. He surely will miss the annual celebration about EDSA that has been scrapped from the official holidays this year.
Roque’s fear add up. The dismissive attitude to the former president’s noise will embolden those who want him and his ilks answerable to death of thousands during his reign. It’s not true that the ICC probe will discourage foreign investors who want cash on the Philippine economy. The opposite is viewed by those who believe in a democratic atmosphere that respects human rights and the rule of law.
As the former president’s defender, Roque should work hard so that his former principal be given the due process, which thousands had been deprived of during the former president’s time. Loosing sleep over it is not a good legal strategy.
Between now and the foreseeable future , about five years more or less. Roque should consider his health and his political future. Midterm elections will come in 2025. In 2028,it’s presidential elections . Its too early and costly to surrender something like sleep at this stage in the game. There is still a chance to prove naysayers, including the former president himself, wrong about his political viability.
Roque must heed Shakespeare friendly counsel in Macbeth: balm of hurt minds,great nature’s second course and chief nourisher of life’s feast.
