Silver lining

What a difference a few months can make in politics in this country.

- ANA MARIE PAMINTUAN

Only last year, in mid-April, President Marcos had said explicitly that his government would not serve a warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the arrest of his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte. "That's a no," BBM said. "We don't recognize the warrant that they will send to us... We are well within international law when we take the position of not recognizing that jurisdiction of ICC in the Philippines."

Much earlier, in February 2023, BBM had said he considered the ICC a threat to national sovereignty, that the Philippine legal system is working, so he saw no need for the ICC to step in, and he would not cooperate in the ICC probe.

All this, of course, was before the rift between the Dutertes and the Marcos-Romualdez clan erupted into full-blown warfare, complete with threats of assassination.

Last week, the "little president" no less gave the most unequivocal statement yet that the administration is ready to hand over Duterte and his minions to the ICC.

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said if the Interpol asked the Philippines to enforce an arrest warrant issued by the ICC, the government would "act favorably, positively."

Since the breakup of the vaunted UniTeam, the Marites network has been buzzing with stories that the Marcos 2.0 administration was ready to hand over Duterte and his former top aides – and possibly, down the line, even his daughter, the Vice President and former Davao City mayor – to the ICC.

The only question was how to go about it, without the country rejoining the ICC. BBM had said in late 2023 that rejoining the Rome Statute was "under study." There has been no word so far on the final outcome of that study.