[Rappler’s Best] ‘Locked, loaded, and ready to go’

For four days last week, the Rappler newsroom relived the trauma of the Duterte years — as prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) played old videos from the heyday of the detained former president, when, through his words, he harassed, maimed, or killed his enemies.

It was upsetting to hear him all over again, but cathartic. Rodrigo Duterte’s own words are now being used against him at the ICC, which held pre-trial hearings on the crimes against humanity case filed against him by victims of extrajudicial killings in his drug war.

Here are the highlights from the trial: 

Day 1: Both sides present two warring narratives about Duterte and his war on drugs.

Day 2: The prosecution cites significant details about the quality of their insider witnesses.

Day 3: The defense gives a preview of their core legal theory: that there’s no direct link between him and the killings, which may have been random.

Day 4: Both sides wrap up their main arguments. It’s a lot of hearsay and conjecture, says the defense. No doubt we have a strong case, says the prosecution.

The unprecedented ICC trial of a former president in Asia reminds the world that leaders can be held to explain and account for their actions, however imperfect the process is. 

This is critical within the context of the US-Israel airstrikes on Iran over the weekend, which killed civilians and is yet again upending a global order that is already broken and gasping for air.

• Investors brace for the worst over the Middle East war.
• With the killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei early Saturday, February 28, what happens next? Read more. The radical cleric had been Iran’s supreme leader for nearly 40 years; here’s a profile.
• Israel also fired missiles at the bases of the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, as the conflict escalated.
• Mary Anne Velasquez de Vera, a Filipino caregiver in Israel who hailed from Pangasinan, was killed when assisting a patient to reach a bomb shelter in Israel as Iran retaliated.

The attacks happened within a domestic context that favored American intervention: unyielding protests against civilian and religious leaders in Iran that prompted extreme measures from the state, including shutting off the internet, against the backdrop of years of US and Israel surveillance and targeted strikes. 

At the start of the year, US President Donald Trump threatened to come to the aid of the protesters. “We are locked and loaded and ready to go,” Trump said in January.

It wasn’t a bluff, and Filipinos know very well how bluster can turn into policy, how bombast can maim and kill. This was in full show at The Hague last week, when ICC prosecutors drew a connection between Duterte’s words and the blood that spilled in shanty towns when he was mayor of Davao and president from 2016-2022.

• Prosecutors presented at least 14 instances when Duterte publicly acknowledged that he had given shoot-to-kill orders to the police and that he is, indeed, the leader of the Davao Death Squad. Read Jodesz Gavilan’s report.
• Prosecutors explained the link between Duterte and the gunmen who killed suspected drug addicts, citing initial evidence such as a witness with knowledge of the ex-president’s alleged kill orders. Watch it here.
• Defense counsel Nicholas Kaufman said his client killed no one. But Duterte said before that he did. Watch it here. Kaufman also laid out why he believes there’s “no causal link” between Duterte and the killings, and why the witnesses against him are tainted.

Outside the halls of the ICC in The Hague, the Duterte universe flooded social media and chat groups with lies and reports that cast doubt on the integrity of the proceedings and the institution itself.

• Shay Du tells us about the 5 false claims about the ICC. 
• Ex-soldiers held a press conference to say ICC investigators were hosted by shady lawmakers linked to the current corruption scandal when they came to the Philippines to investigate. 
• Various Facebook accounts exploit the recent killing of a young girl to justify Duterte’s drug war. Read a Decoded piece about it here.

Here are some of Rappler’s bests that you shouldn’t miss:

• Val Villanueva tells us how the country’s wealthiest investors are choosing their bets.
• Gelo Gonzales explains why parents can’t keep up with social media’s oppressive algorithms and addictive design. 
• Bea Cupin reports on the Chinese embassy’s recent offensive, this time against the media. 

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– Rappler.com

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