There are many things to unpack from former President Rodrigo Duterte’s Wednesday appearance at the House of Representatives, supposedly to shed light on his administration’s polarizing war on drugs. It is unsavory to recall them, but it must be done if we ever hope to extract more than a macabre sense of entertainment at hearing an unhinged man unapologetically and defiantly recount his deeds.
The hearing started on a poignant note with the mothers of some victims of the extra-judicial killings speaking about their loss. This should have set the tone for the entire day: a somber acknowledgment that lives were snuffed out.
But the session soon degenerated into a peek into the former president’s mind.
The lawmakers warned Duterte against cursing; he did so, anyway. A party-list representative asked him to state categorically whether the nationwide campaign against drugs was from the Davao model, and he fumed, indignant that she was asking him to answer just yes or no. But wasn’t she in fact an investigator and were not the proceedings in fact an investigation? He admitted to killing six or seven people, never bothering to check whether there were more who could have died later on at hospital. He threw a mock punch at former Senator Leila de Lima, whom he had jailed without basis for seven years. He picked up a microphone and almost hit former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV with it, after the latter showed a list of big money that regularly made its way to the accounts of the Duterte family. The war on drugs was a ruse, he said, just so Duterte and his inner circle could mask their own drug-related activities. The former president said he would hang himself in full view of everyone if there was one iota of truth in what Trillanes was alleging. And when the former senator dared him to sign a waiver authorizing Congress to look into said bank account at BPI Julia Vargas branch, Duterte said he would do it – if he could first slap Trillanes.
Perhaps the most telling was Duterte’s dare to the international Criminal Court to come for him and investigate him, and to hurry lest he die soon. He would gladly fly to The Hague and rot in their jail for the rest of his days. And yet, over the course of the hearing, Duterte expressed his contempt for the white person’s judgment, even as he also said he believed Philippine courts were inadequate.
Over the course of the session, Duterte referred to his habit of speaking in hyperbole, adding deniability to his incriminating statements made under oath.But this country is already facing so many difficulties that there is no more value in listening to someone who talks in riddles, is given to outbursts, and who is always excused by the thinking that he often does not mean what he says.
The only way to deal with such a character is to take him up on his word and haul him to court. Duterte did issue the challenge, perhaps believing we would still think he was jesting. A fitting way to commiserate with those grieving their loved ones’ senseless deaths should be to hand him over to the ICC, and then get him to sign that waiver and look at the real story that would be told by the inflow and outflow of money in those bank accounts.
Succeeding hearings will no doubt yield more actionable information on the war on drugs. Mr. Duterte has always been quick to challenge his critics to file cases against him. Now that there is at least one strong case in a court that appears adequate, we look forward to seeing this one prosper — no more, no less.
