NOT content with effecting the unlawful and unconstitutional arrest, detention and rendition of former president Rodrigo Duterte, and not satisfied with the impeachment of his daughter, Vice President Sara Zimmerman Duterte, to disqualify her from running for president in 2028 and perpetually bar her from holding any public office, and unmindful of the growing dissatisfaction of the millions who supported the Duterte-Marcos tandem in 2022, the anti-Duterte forces have conspired to obliterate from the political landscape the obstacle to their continuing to be ensconced in affluence and entitlement. They have engineered another creative and strategic project to pounce on the Dutertes and subject them to trial by publicity by way of launching a devious and deceptive Truth Commission.
Its organizers claim that the body is being created to probe into the truth behind the alleged extrajudicial killings, that official police report says there are 6,000 recorded deaths arising from the anti-drug police operations against those involved in the manufacturing, distributing, selling and using prohibited drugs. Human rights groups claim that there were about 30,000 drug-related killings. The biased mainstream media propagate this spurious and malicious claim to the world and the major news networks around the globe irresponsibly and out of inexcusable ignorance, lapped it up as gospel truth and spread the falsity.
The purveyors of this falsehood further claim that the so-called Truth Commission will provide a platform for the families of the alleged victims of the Duterte administration’s anti-drug war to reveal the truth behind the deaths of their kin and get justice for them, which they said have been denied them. They hope that this propaganda vehicle will get the relatives the justice they seek that they claim has become elusive.
They further claim that those who will come out and participate in the Truth Commission are not part of the group of complainants in the International Criminal Court (ICC), but those who have yet to file their complaints. They said the creation of this private investigative body has given this latter group the courage to come out in the open and seek justice for their loved ones.
The claims are dubious. They are designed to cover up their ingenious scheme of continuously besmirching the reputation and character of the Dutertes. Those behind this devious project intend to poison the public mind and convince the people that the Dutertes are evil incarnate that murdered thousands of Filipinos when in truth and in fact, the father and daughter tandem have contributed immensely to the destruction of the illegal drug and criminal syndicates as well as the demolition of the communist rebels and terrorists that brought peace and order during their watch in Davao City and in the entire country.
These Duterte detractors are bent on their malevolent obsession not only to picture the Dutertes as murderous individuals disguised as patriots but corrupt politicians, when in reality they are humble and principled politicians that have unleashed the mighty sword that slayed the dragon of corruption that mired the entire bureaucracy and have only the welfare of the Filipino nation at heart. The unprecedented and constant stratospheric trust and approval ratings of the two have validated this truistic perception and further confirmed by the outpouring of support of millions of Filipinos abroad and at home for them, as shown by the continuous influx of hundreds of Filipinos braving the freezing cold temperatures as well as the heat at The Hague, just to be there to let the former president know that they love him, while at home they make VP Sara feel the warmth of their embrace and care as she faces the assaults and challenges of the constitutionally infirm impeachment complaint.
Courts are proper forum to seek redress and justice
The courts are functioning; thousands have been prosecuted, convicted and jailed for crimes these felons have committed. Thousands more crime and graft cases are pending before the various courts of the land. The court is the mechanism that is placed by the Constitution to be the dispenser of justice, not a truth forum.
The present dispensation has been in power for four years, yet it has not initiated the appropriate criminal cases against the Dutertes for the alleged extrajudicial killings. The reason is because it has no evidence to charge them in our courts. It has instead haled former president Duterte before the ICC and, in the process, surrendered the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Philippines. It also initiated and pursued the present unconstitutional impeachment complaint against VP Sara.
If the claim of the relatives of the victims is true that the latter were extrajudicially executed, then they should file the appropriate cases in court against those accountable, prove their accusations, and provide the opportunity for those charged to defend themselves. The organizers of the Truth Commission, if they are sincere and so minded, instead of launching this destructive and one-way publicity stunt that deprives the accused of due process before a fair tribunal, should assist those who cry for justice by assisting in prosecuting the alleged offenders, and let the rule of law take its course and triumph.
Should they insist on this trial by innuendo, they only expose themselves as the enemies of democracy and become complicit in violating the constitutional rights of those they will subject to this nefarious trial by publicity.
Let’s call a spade a spade. The Truth Commission is obviously a black propaganda tool against the Dutertes. That is the glaring truth. No deceptive justifications can hide it.
