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Alexander Dumas's avatar

It'll be awfully hard to know let alone prove that Rodrigo Duterte went to Hong Kong not just to raise his popularity among Filipino expatriates, who are all too often exploited and marginalized in places like Hong Kong and Malaysia, but to [also] seek political and criminal refuge either there or somewhere in China on the grace of emperor Xi Jinping. That said, it's not beyond the realm of possibilities if Duterte's criminal mind is an indicator of his cowardice. When he was in power his blustering was often conducted under the skirts of his band of corrupt and murderous Davao criminals as he did elsewhere in the Philippines, especially with the protection of his equally corrupt and criminal sections of the country's police. Let's see him bluster his way out of his criminal accusation of allegedly having murdered in cold blood more than 30,000 drug suspects and innocent Filipinos, all on the pretense of wiping out the drug scourge that, among other things, that has long rendered the country Southeast Asia's basketcase. Personally I hope he is found guilty and, if it were possible, either hung by the neck till he's dead or shot down like the murderous, uncouth, lying, heinous dog that he is.

Whatever wranglings that may have happened behind the scenes on Marcos Jr's apprehensions of acting or not acting on the ICC's arrest warrant will sooner or later be known. At this time there's a lot of speculation and there's little point in adding to Viswa Nathan's. I'm not shooting the messenger but merely stating some facts that in the space of a day I've read so much conjectures emanating from so many so-called experts that I can't at this time tell truth from fiction and I have no doubt there are those who want to show they have a scoop or inside running when I doubt they really do.

The most important questions going forward is the extent the ICC has irrefutable evidence to nail Duterte good and proper or if there are substantial gaps in their evidence against Duterte that the dog is set free, perhaps on one or more legal technicalities. This I think may be a case that could, like Slobodan Milošević's war crimes trial in The Hague in the early part of the 2000s though not by the ICC but the International criminal Tribunal.

Meantime, there is enough evidence to suggest Duterte has failed to resolve crime and criminality that had been flourishing in the Philippines for more than a decade, spurred in no small part by Marcos Sr and his wife Imelda, both of whom were criminals and liars in their own right and who had been siphoning Philippines wealth at the expense of ordinary Filipinos. In fact, I'd go so far as the suggest the Duterte brandished even worse crimes and criminalities amongst Filipino thugs and arming them to the hilt whilst licensing them to commit wanton murder and other hideous forms of thuggery. He was the Filipino president and mafia boss of the Philippines who'd advocated violence of the worst kinds, from assassinations to bombings to open shooting murders in Philippines streets and backroads. Along with his equally criminally minded daughter Sara, it would pay to expand investigations to determine the extent to which either he or both of them have perpetrated embezzlement of the people's wealth a la the senior Marcoses. Leave no stone unturned.

It's scary whilst also diabolically fascinating that his supporters go on bended knees to pray for him and kiss Duterte's filthy criminal ass, especially as the majority of Filipinos still live wretched lives in dire structural poverty and Duterte and his daughter hadn't so much as lifted a finger to reverse their poverty-stricken lives. It's also one reason why Filipinos continue to seek their livelihoods abroad where they are constantly exploited, marginalized and their human rights either disparaged or taken away by those counties' corrupt authorities, especially, as I know, by immigration authorities and their ruthless, apathetic employers in the domestic help sector.

All of which leaves Marcos Jr with pressing questions for answers about what he's doing for his people apart from sitting on his ass and playing politics whilst amassing private wealth, paticularly from their holdings of real estate in the Philippines and abroad.

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