BY ADAM DAVIS
There is a major international news story spanning the past ten days that ought to be the top news story in the world at this time. While it is a top story outside of “the west,” western media outlets have been strangely silent.
On Tuesday, March 11 of this year, former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport after just landing from a flight back home to be delivered to the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands. He was arrested without a physical warrant having been issued for his arrest, nor was he first presented before a Philippine court to verify and approve the move to the Hague as per the laid out rules and procedures of the Hague itself. President Duterte is charged with “crimes against humanity” for alleged “extrajudicial killings” that are said to have occurred during his tenure as the Filipino people’s elected president from 2016-2022 as per his “war on drugs.”
If Duterte is really the evil tyrant his opposition and western media outlets have made him out to be, you would think the Filipino people would be greatly rejoicing that he will now “face justice,” but no, the Filipino people are assembling en masse all over the world, in the Philippines, in the Netherlands, Finland, the U.K., USA, Canada, New Zealand, and even traditionally more restrictive countries such as Bahrain, Qatar, and the UAE, to support their former president and call on his immediate return home. You will not see this being reported in western media, and the current Marcos regime in the Philippines is having videos of the assemblies and other shows of support taken off of social media, attempting to arrest those trying to legally assist former president Duterte, restricting further protests and citizens’ movements, and ordering independent journalists and bloggers before Senate and House committees to face intimidation, manipulation, and attempted silencing.
On the outside looking in, this was not a proper arrest, but a kidnapping, politically motivated, as it is evident that Marcos is eliminating a political rival and his family as this “coincides” with the impeachment of vice-president Sara Duterte. The Hague’s aid in this is an all-out assault on a nation’s popular sovereignty as Duterte was an elected official and a much-beloved elected official to this day. For western globalists and their institutions, capturing Duterte was an act of paternalistic colonialism and payback to Duterte for refusing to bow before the western emperors and kiss their rings and backsides during his presidency. His arrest communicates to the non-western world that this is what will happen if they try to act and live freely and independently from their “benevolence.” This is the ICC’s way to bring the Philippines back under a form of practical colonialism under which they were for more than 400 years with Spain and then the 20th century practically with America. The Western powers despise Mr. Duterte because he instilled a real and genuine sense of Philippine patriotism and pushed for a truly free and independent Philippines.
The recent collaboration between the ICC and the current Marcos regime was an all-out assault on Filipino popular sovereignty. Additionally, it jeopardizes the popular sovereignty of all free and independent states. If Mr. Duterte is guilty of what he is accused of, he should face a court of his Philippine nationals as he has expressed willingness to do. He is accountable to no one but the Filipino people by way of their elected officials. The ICC, it seems, does not believe popular sovereignty to be a universal human right, but rather, white privilege. This recent travesty is a throwback to the old paternalistic colonialism of the 19th century. If you truly believe in the right of all people to self-determine, then stand in solidarity with the Filipino people as their voices are being actively silenced by their own government and western powers.