MANILA

“YOU HAVE TO wonder whether anyone at the International Criminal Court in The Hague had their tongues wedged firmly in their cheeks as they accepted the assistance of the son of former Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the extradition of a political adversary – former elected Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte – to their palace of justice in the Netherlands.”

Veteran journalist John Whaling-Spike, who survived a landmine in Vietnam, kidnapping in Beirut, and an interview with Irish political strategist Eoghan Harris in the 1990s, says Filipinos are sharply divided by the news that the man many of them praise for taking the drug war in the country direct to the dealers is now facing trial for actions committed while he was legal ruler of their country.

“People see this as an internal Philippines matter. If he’s to be tried, then that’s where he should be tried. They ask what the hell is the International Criminal Court doing here? Many see it as simply a way for Marcos Junior to get rid of a political inconvenience. No one is arresting Junior for the role he played in his Dad’s dictatorship.”

Rodrigo Duterte’s ruthless war on drug dealers saw him nicknamed “Duterte Harry”, after the Clint Eastwood detective with a similar mindset. Thousands of suspect low level street dealers were killed. Many by vigilantes.

“At base, this a family dispute,” Whaling-Spike says. “The Marcos and Duterte families have fallen out and so Marcos Junior, once against sending Duterte to the ICC, has suddenly changed his mind. Justice? You decide. You know, I don’t defend vigilantism, but how many lives were saved by Duterte’s policies? And the killing still happens under Marcos Junior, just to a lesser extent. Drugs are a curse in the Philippines. They’re a curse everywhere. Hey, maybe Donald Trump will come to his assistance. He’s already warned the ICC off Netanyahu.”