You’re right. The Marcos family is definitely going to benefit from this especially with their strained relationship. Regardless, Duterte must be brought to justice. The Marcos family should too. It just so happens the Philippines got itself in such a mess today that we got BOTH of them in power. Anyway, we must always be critical of both Duterte and Marcos.

Yes. Sara Duterte. She has an impending impeachment trial for corruption.

That’s Baybayin. It’s an old Tagalog script that isn’t really used anymore outside of aesthetic purposes. It’s not commonly taught and used in schools for example. Even I couldn’t read this without a guide. There are some efforts to try to revive it though.

Tagalog is usually written with the English alphabet. Like this: Magandang gabi po. Google Translate works.

but why’d the ICC wait this long?

Who knows? Investigation only started toward the end of his term. Duterte was in position until 2022 and even made the Philippines withdraw from the ICC sometime during his term. Since you don’t know, his family has strained relationships lately with the Marcos family (another influential family that committed human rights abuses in the 1970s-80s). The current president happens to be Bongbong Marcos. The way some people see it, it looked like a golden opportunity for Marcos

I’m not here to praise the ICC – they’re very slow and I’m aware of their biases. Nor am I here to praise Marcos for cooperating with them so he can destabilize his political opponent. There’s a lot of gray areas and it’s really complex. The issue is very fresh. Nobody knows what’s going to happen next. We can only speculate. It’s a developing issue.

Anyway, please trust me when I say that Philippine politics is very complicated and messy. I believe it’s true for many countries but as someone who was born in the Philippines as a Filipino and witnessed the Duterte term, I can say that I know my country more than anyone here on Lemmy. Saying things like he’s “little people” and “weak” or “powerless” is completely wrong and offensive to those who suffered. Even while he’s arrested, the Duterte family is still very powerful.

Honestly, if you had worded your first comment as a critique against the ICC for not doing enough and left out downplaying the crimes of Duterte, you wouldn’t have offended so many people. I understand your frustration now, but I hope you understand mine too.

So you’re also not aware that it was the PNP that arrested him? The government was notified of the warrant and simply complied. The current administration is split between two families of dictators (Marcos and Duterte) in case you didn’t know.

It’s only been hours since Duterte was arrested. Who knows what’s going to happen?

Why the fuck do you need it to do your justice for you?

Once again. You don’t understand Philippine politics. You should look at the list of people sitting in government right now and check their relations with the Duterte family. Did you not read the last sentence? Are you not aware of how many of his goons and cronies are in senate?

Lol. You clearly know nothing about Philippine politics if you think this means nothing to us. You Westerners probably think of us as little people too yeah? You really only care about yourselves. Do human rights only matter if its your people?

Please book a flight to the Philippines and tell the grieving families that Duterte is nothing but a “little guy” and his crimes never mattered.

And if you think this is all just in the past, I bet you aren’t even aware that his daughter is literally the vice president right now who’s looking to run for president in 2028. Hmmm…

Here is some context for those not familiar with Philippine politics (speaking as a Filipino):

• There was a bit of tension between the Marcos family and the Duterte family back then (I don’t remember exactly what sparked this, but Philippine politics is a complete fiesta).
• Current PH president, Bongbong Marcos, is the son of former president Ferdinand Marcos who, in 1972, declared Martial Law on the basis of a “communist threat” looming over the country. During this period Ferdinand Marcos committed a lot of human rights abuses, killing anyone who spoke against the government. He also stole a shit ton of money.
• Current PH vice president, Sara Duterte, is the daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte who also committed a lot of human rights abuses through his Drug War campaign.
• Despite tensions between these two families, Bongbong Marcos and Sara Duterte teamed up during the previous presidential elections and were running mates using the image of “unity” (they were called UniTeam) to unite Filipinos.
• Because the majority of the Philippine population is poor and uneducated, the two of them won the elections despite both familiy names being closely associated with authoritarian rule and human rights abuses.

Now some important details that have led up to this point:

• Sara Duterte had this whole “confidential funds” thing wherein taxpayer’s money was being spent on… confidential reasons. (-_-) and if it’s not clear to you yet, the Philippines has had a long problem of corruption. So she was brought to court several times for this reason (these were the impeachment cases).
• Sara Duterte pulled off several political stunts such as threatening to kill the president and whatnot which distracts from her confidential funds issue.
• Some political analysts say that this tension also has to do with the geopolitical differences of the two as the Marcos family were known to have support from the USA while the Duterte family was China’s dog (and before Lemmy starts siding with the Duterte because of their closeness with China, no - Duterte killed a lot of Filipino communists and vowed to kill any communist in sight).

Anyway, neither of these two people can be trusted. They both come from families who have had a long history of human rights abuses and corruption. The whole “plot to kill president” is just a tiny part of the larger issue and why she needs to be impeached (again, it really stems from the corruption allegations and she made things worse for her because Philippine politics is a fiesta). But let’s see how things play out from here.

TL;DR Philippine politics is a circus. The entire country is run by clowns.

You don’t have to decide. You can’t trust either of them.