|
The
arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte by virtue of a warrant
issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) is a victory for the
Filipino people, particularly the thousands of victims of his bloody
“war on drugs” and his fascist attacks on the revolutionary movement. It
affirms what the people have long known – that Duterte is a mass
murderer who must be held accountable for his crimes. However, this does
not absolve Marcos Jr. of his own blood debts as he continues the
reactionary state’s counterrevolutionary war against the Filipino
people.
While
we welcome the ICC’s move against Duterte, we also reiterate the crimes
of the Marcos Jr. administration. The 2024 International People’s
Tribunal (IPT) found both Duterte and Marcos Jr., as well as the US
government, guilty of grave violations of international humanitarian
law. The findings of the IPT reinforce the fact that state terror and
impunity persist under Marcos Jr. and that the fight for justice must
extend beyond Duterte’s arrest—it must challenge the continuing fascist
repression being waged by the current regime.
The
ICC warrant focuses on Duterte’s “war on drugs,” but his crimes extend
far beyond this. His regime carried out the systematic killing of NDFP
peace consultants, aerial bombings of civilian communities, and the
torture and execution of captured Red fighters (hors de combat),
all in blatant disregard of the laws of war. These war crimes were not
just Duterte’s policy—they remain central to the Marcos Jr. regime’s
counterrevolutionary war against the Filipino people. Under Marcos Jr.,
indiscriminate bombings, enforced disappearances, forced evacuations,
and extrajudicial killings continue, proving that the reactionary state
will stop at nothing to crush the people’s resistance.
Furthermore,
Duterte’s crimes were not his alone, nor were they simply the product
of local reactionary politics. US imperialism has long propped up
Philippine fascist regimes, providing military aid, training and
intelligence to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the
Philippine National Police (PNP). The US-funded “counterinsurgency”
programs directly contributed to Duterte’s reign of terror. Even now,
under Marcos Jr., US-backed military operations continue to target both
revolutionary forces and the legal democratic mass movement. The
people’s movement must continue to expose and resist the imperialist
role in enabling fascist rule up to this day.
We
call on the international community to sustain pressure for Duterte’s
immediate prosecution. At the same time, the ICC must exert all
necessary measures to compel the Marcos Jr. government to surrender
Duterte to ICC jurisdiction. The NDFP International Office stands firmly
with the Filipino masses in their fight for justice and genuine
national and social liberation. Duterte and his cronies must face the
full weight of their actions – not just for their past crimes but to end
the continuing reign of impunity in the Philippines.
Duterte’s
arrest, or even his potential conviction, will not dismantle the
semicolonial and semifeudal system that breeds fascist rulers and US
puppet regimes. Only through a national democratic revolution with a
socialist perspective, led by the working class, can the roots of
fascist violence be eradicated. |
No comments:
Post a Comment