Quad hearings in aid of ICC investigation

All roads seem to lead to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, the Netherlands.

- HARRY ROQUE

And so the pinklawans and talyanistas think.

The ongoing hearings of the House of Representatives quad committee (quad comm) coincide with news reports of the arrival of the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigators in Manila to investigate the Duterte administration's war on illegal drugs.

While commercial mainstream media is silent about the ICC investigators' secret visit to House Speaker Martin Romualdez and their stay in a posh hotel reportedly owned by a Romualdez minion, social media has been abuzz with this persistent news, with former Marcos loyalist vlogger Maharlika even exposing the passports of the ICC investigators.

With this context, former president Rodrigo Roa Duterte did the brave thing: he appeared before the 11th quad comm hearing, where congressmen made the mistake of crucifying an octogenarian on the issue of extrajudicial killings (EJKs). There was even one congressman who called the former chief executive a Pharisee, forgetting that in the eyes of the Filipinos, the members of the House of Congress are viewed as Judas, Barabbas and Gestas.

These traditional politicians forgot one thing: they will never win against someone who has nothing to fear or lose at this point. FPRRD is now 79 and has lived a full life. The Filipino people saw the 16th president on Nov. 13, 2024 a true leader with a pure heart and an unyielding spirit whose strength may be drained as he sat at a 13-hour uninterrupted hearing but had remained tall until the very end.