16/03/2025
"An Opinion Regarding FPRRD's Trial in the ICC”
Let me be absolutely clear: I am a KAKAMPINK, without reservation. My support was not mere lip service; I actively funded the campaign, produced materials, and poured my heart into the cause.
I AM NOT PRO-DUTERTE.
But the notion of sending an 80-year-old Filipino abroad for detention is utterly unacceptable. It violates the core of our Filipino values—compassion, forgiveness, and the sanctity of family. We are not a people who coldly abandon our own. He should serve his sentence here, within our borders, like Ma'am Leila de Lima, near his loved ones and his homeland. To subject him to a foreign prison is a heartless act.
Due process is not a privilege; it’s a right. To deny it to him would be to repeat the very injustices his alleged actions caused. The goal is justice, not vengeance. And justice requires fairness, even for those accused of the most terrible crimes.
Furthermore, the record must be set straight: Vice President Robredo endured three impeachment attempts, not one (yet the public doesnt know) President Duterte himself intervened, even dismissing a cabinet member who dared to persecute her over COVID-19 donations. This act of protection speaks volumes.
While past administrations, including those of Presidents Estrada, Arroyo, and Aquino, faced instances of police misconduct, this does not, in any way, justify the abhorrent drug war. That is a separate, egregious injustice. Moreover, figures like Imelda Marcos and Juan Ponce Enrile, despite their convictions, were granted hospital arrest—a decision that was largely accepted. Why, then, this glaring double standard?
It is fundamentally against our Filipino spirit to cast someone before a foreign court, to be judged by strangers. We have a functioning justice system; we must utilize it. He was elected by the majority, and he remains a former president of our nation. We have a duty to treat him with the respect that office deserves.
Let the man face his crimes in our country.
Mark Montehermoso
Ctto: Photo not mine