The arrest and dispatch to The Hague of former president Rodrigo Duterte on March 11 stunned many Filipinos, not least his family members and their ardent supporters. For some relatives of the victims of his “war on drugs” watching the historic daylong event on television in real time was like an Edsa 1986 moment: They...
Tag: Rodrigo Duterte
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‘Nanlaban. Tepok.’
At the height of Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs,” there was a huge billboard along C5 in Pasig City that advertised a pesticide called Tepox. It had an image of a dead cockroach, flat on its back and its feet up in the air, with this message: “Ipis. Nanlaban. Tepox.” The tongue-in-cheek ad played on the...
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Imee Marcos grills her brother’s officials on Duterte arrest while they hold their ground
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla defended on Thursday the government’s action to surrender former president Rodrigo Duterte to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and acknowledged that it was the first such incident in the country’s history. “It’s a case of first impression. This has never happened in our history,” Remulla said of the decision of...
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Duterte arrest sparks disinformation surge, spinning tales in his favor
The stunning arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte by Interpol on March 11 has unleashed a torrent of disinformation across social media. Fabricated claims and misleading narratives widely cast him as a victim of injustice in an apparent effort to garner public support. Fact checks on spurious posts about Duterte’s arrest in Manila and his...
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Duterte’s arrest is about crimes against humanity, not ‘pamumulitika’
Too bad that after the daylong wait on Tuesday for President Marcos Jr. to enlighten the nation on the arrest of Rodrigo Duterte, no one thought to ask, when he agreed to take questions, what he thought of his sister’s statement lamenting the supposed failure of Filipinos to learn from the past. Minutes after the...
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‘We have seen the last of Duterte,’ says Trillanes
After the chartered Lear jet carrying Rodrigo Duterte finally took off from Manila late Tuesday night for The Hague in the Netherlands, a former senator and a human rights lawyer predicted that his departure would be for good. In The Hague, the 79-year-old former president will face charges of crimes against humanity before the International...
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Colonel held at the House over the holidays ordered moved to police station
For refusing to explain his claim that two cochairs of the House of Representatives’ quad committee had tried to coerce him to corroborate the alleged reward system for cops and hitmen in then President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs, a police officer held in the chamber over the holidays has been ordered transferred to...
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The making of Edgar Matobato
It is a wonder Edgar Matobato is still alive. A confessed assassin for the Davao Death Squad, he was the first to go public about the killings allegedly ordered by former President Rodrigo Duterte. Since 2014, when he was detained and brutally tortured by his former comrades, Matobato has been on the run. For ten...
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Tying up loose ends, or more unraveling in 2025?
We can see more clearly the cycle of renewal and rebirth whenever the holiday season comes and the new year approaches. We want to leave our old selves behind and become better in our collective and individual lives in the new year. As an economy, we want greater wealth and productivity. As a government, we...
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House quad committee uncovers ‘grand criminal enterprise’ in 13 hearings
The House of Representatives’ quad committee announced on Thursday that it has uncovered a “grand criminal enterprise” centering on former president Rodrigo Duterte in the course of conducting 13 hearings on the connections of illegal drugs, illegal offshore gambling hubs, and extrajudicial killings during the bloody “war on drugs.” “Ladies and gentlemen, the quad committee has started...