THIS sordid affair, the French in the Hague labels "l'affair Duterte" has made amateur lawyers of many of us. From where one sits, it was either a lawful arrest or kidnapping of a former president, "giftwrapped and delivered" to the ICC by our own government. Sen. Imee Marcos' subsequent hearings, for which she was dropped from the Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas senatorial lineup, exposed the criminal incompetence of this government and the prevarications of her complicit brother. Imee, the Marcos who should have been president and not this weak caricature of a male sibling, displayed balls — evocative of her dictator-father. She has long distanced herself from the has-beens, entertainers, ex-convicts and opportunists of the Alyansa. Suspended in political limbo with the support of Sara, this development, if played well, could propel her to a second Senate term.

In any event, DU30 now in the Hague will undergo a protracted trial — where at the end he is either pronounced not guilty, sent home free and live the rest of his life back as my neighbor in Davao City at a very ripe age; or die miserably in his cell while undergoing a trial that could last anywhere from 3 to 8 years.

By which time he could be venerated as a beloved dead hero elevated to cult-like status similar to that of his partner, the "Appointed Son of God," Quiboloy. But unlike this KOJC charlatan, the Deegong will be vilified by the Marcoses as they did Ninoy. And the rest of the country grudgingly moves on, as always, suffering under this dysfunctional system of government where our corrupt leadership will steal us blind — salved from time to time with "ayuda."

BBM and the Marcos family, whether they will survive this or not, will have extracted their pound of flesh. Sweet revenge! More miserable than their patriarch dying in Hawaii and awaiting decades before being brought back home and given a hero's burial — courtesy of the one now languishing in a cell at the Hague. Karma has a way of upsetting events.

As to the parents, relatives and loved ones of victims of the "tokhang" drug war, 3,000-6,000-30,000 souls — choose your number — EJK'd or justified killings, they too will have their pound of flesh. These people, mostly poor and society's fringe, will continue to wallow in poverty and injustice — courtesy of these morons, incompetents and the corrupt they will elect to the highest offices of the land. This is the cycle of misery that has continually defined our system of governance.

International Criminal Court

This court is totally alien from that of our country's where delays are de rigueur, judges are bought, witnesses disappear, and justice is dispensed based on the status of the litigants and respondents. Former ICC judge Raul Pangalangan emphasized that "...the tribunal operates under a unique legal framework that does not always conform to traditional national legal systems." The ICC does not fit into familiar categories of Philippine jurisprudence. Pangalanan who served as an ICC judge from 2015-2021 averred that "international criminal tribunals are in a class of their own. They are sui generis." A class of their own.

Retired Supreme Court associate justice Antonio Carpio said that our Philippine courts have no jurisdiction over the ICC. The legality or illegality of the Deegong's arrest and subsequent flight to the Hague will not deprive the ICC of jurisdiction to hear and decide on the case. "The ICC has nothing to do with how the surrendering state carried out the arrest," Carpio said. The ICC's prerogative is very clear; once handed over, it acquires jurisdiction and trial on the merits will proceed as scheduled — by its own rules.

In a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, 51 percent agree that Duterte, a most beloved Filipino president, should be held accountable for the killings (EJK) during his watch. This reflects the importance of accountability and perhaps a shred of decency left for majority of the Filipinos. For its part, ICC will have to establish the Deegong's guilt for human rights violations.

Political theater

From hereon in, Philippine public opinion and our Constitution are irrelevant to the ICC. It operates on hard facts, legal precedents and international law. But Pinoys love political theater and will continue to squeeze the issues dry to advance the political agenda of the pro-Marcos and the pro-Dutertes; but sadly, not much for the near-voiceless victims together with the rest of the citizenry caught in the middle.

And therein lies the Filipino tragedy. This trial and its implications on the rule of law and justice will be eclipsed by partisan street protests, vlogs/blogs and social media noise and the circus of the midterm elections reducing serious endeavors as simply vehicles playing on voters' emotions.

Video clips from the Duterte camp show the miserable former president enroute pining for "pancit and bulad"; and exhibited at the pre-trial chamber in a loose fitting "Amerikana." "Kawawa naman!"

And the trolls from the Marcos camp countering with old clips of the foulmouthed former president, cursing the Pope, President Obama, calling them "sons of a whore," and clips mocking the ICC to get him — dead or alive! And his self-incriminating admission of nurturing a death squad (DDS) — instructing them to "kill this person (drug lord/addict), because if you do not, I will kill you."

Midterm elections 2025

On May 12, we will have a vague idea on whether Marcos-Romualdez were the geniuses they are purported to be with their strategy to get the still popular Deegong out of the political calculation barely two months before elections. Prior to the ICC hullabaloo, the Alyansa senatorial slate, propelled by logistics anomalously sourced from the 2025 budget, were on an upward trajectory, hoping to get enough senators for the two thirds needed to impeach Sara. The impeachment of the VP was an imperative as she is a heartbeat away from the presidency. Anything that happens to BBM — God forbid, an assassin's bullet, or an overdose of "polvoron" — before she is impeached will upset the well-executed schemes of Marcos from the time of the legislative hearings on Sara's corrupt practices — stage-managed by the equally corrupt minions of Speaker Martin Romualdez.

Sad reality

But do we really care about what happens with both camps? Duterte has accumulated enough wealth from Pharmally and scores of lucrative ventures to pay for top-tier accredited ICC lawyers to defend him. If he's clean and innocent, then he's free! If not, then he rots in jail.

And what do you care about the Marcoses? They and their cohorts have looted the country blind and perverted the bureaucracy. We should boot them all out.

What about us — the Filipino right smack in the middle of this insanity?

This Marcos-Duterte teleserye has been played to the hilt with their UniTeam in an attempt to monopolize power for the next generations. We are being distracted from what we really deserve — good governance. We need to fix this and plan out what we need to do next to free ourselves from this cycle of hopelessness.

Something's gotta give!