A prayer rally it was not. It was a gathering where the members of a political dynasty that has lost power and their fast-dwindling supporters met to air grievances.

Former president Rodrigo Duterte slammed his successor for supposedly being a weak leader and a dope head. The real reason for his tirade was obvious. He and his daughter, Vice President and Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Sara Duterte, were not given what the Uniteam alliance implicitly promised: their share in the division of power and  the spoils.

Mr. Duterte has since walked back on his statement. He said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was doing his level-best to lead. He also denied having said the President was a cocaine addict, despite video snippets of his allegations being shared by netizens. 

On February 25, on the 38^th anniversary of the non-violent EDSA People Power Revolt, Ms. Duterte issued a statement that appeared on the DepEd website. She called on Filipinos to “remember the lessons of EDSA – the power of unity, the importance of standing up for what is right.” Just a short time later, the post was taken down, with Ms. Duterte claiming that she did not approve the statement. 

There is only one explanation for the vacillation. Father and daughter have come to the realization that President Marcos Jr. could hand them over to the International Criminal Court (ICC), where they, along with a number of their close allies, are facing charges for crimes against humanity.

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EDSA 1 and the Dutertes

Ms. Duterte can dismiss the Edsa People Power with contempt anytime, but she can never deny that it was singularly her father’s ticket to political fame. Her family has a lot to thank the late former president Cory Aquino for. Cory actually jumpstarted Duterte’s political career as Davao City mayor, after his mother Soledad “Nanay Soling” Duterte, refused to take the position when Cory offered her the job.

You see, Nanay Soling was a staunch anti-Marcos activist. At the height of Marcos Sr.’s dictatorship, she was at the forefront of the Davao’s city-wide protest where she led the Yellow Friday Movement from Magsaysay Park to Rizal Park in Davao City to protest against the corruption, abuses and terror brought by the Marcos regime.

Duterte even recognized his mother’s fight against the late dictator Marcos. While still Davao City Mayor, he was quoted as saying: “So I will dishonor the memory of my mother by following the persons that she helped shut down?” But this was later proven to be mere lip service. In November 2016 despite nationwide protests, Duterte allowed the very dictator his mom valiantly battled against to be entombed in the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

ICC, Duterte’s comeuppance?

While president, Mr. Duterte had left a trail of blood, killing by one account up to 30,000 people, including children and babies in their mothers’ arms. He also buried the country under a mountain of debt but, fortunately for him, the international tribunal can only prosecute him for murder and torture.

But what exactly ticked off the Duterte family? It was a dispute over money. Somebody in Congress leaked out the information that Ms. Duterte, a few days after her takeover of the Education Department, spent P125 million in confidential funds in just 11 days.

Critics say nobody could spend that much in such a short period of time. What actually happened, they add, was that she could have withdrawn the money and funneled it somewhere else.

They say it was not out of character for the Vice President. When she was mayor, she appropriated billions, again in the form of confidential funds, and also put thousands of ghost employees on government payroll. In 2012, they allege, then Davao City Mayor Sara was on the last full year of her term, and went on a hiring spree. She signed up 11,000 temporary workers to six-month work contracts, including 110 consultants employed by her office without any proof to show that the personnel deserved their wages. 

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Whistleblower Arturo Lascañas, one of the Duterte hitmen who conducted the extrajudicial killing sprees in Davao City, said that was how he was paid for his services. In an interview with Vera Files, he revealed that he received P68,000 every month from the Davao City government as a member of the Davao Death Squad (DDS). The amount, he said, was pooled from 10 to 12 ghost employees whose salaries ranged from P5,000 to P7,000 a month.

Under her father’s presidency, Mayor Sara’s administration was allocated the lion’s share of the P28.1-billion National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) budget.

Besides being a mouthful to spell out, the NTF-ELCAC campaign against suspected front organizations of the communist group seems to be at odds with who the ex-president and current vice president are. They are neither  anti-communist nor anti-illegal drugs.

When he was gunning for the presidency, Mr. Duterte announced that if elected he would be the first socialist [read: communist] president. As mayor, he turned Davao City into an R&R haven for the New People’s Army (NPA). He also gave an NPA chieftain – killed in an encounter with the Army – a hero’s burial.

Father and daughter feel they are being assailed from all fronts. But the greatest threat to them is the possible issuance of warrants for their arrest by the ICC.

If that happens, President Marcos may order the Philippine National Police to order their arrest. Up to now, Marcos Jr. blows hot and cold on the issue, but geopolitics might force his hand. The United States, which is propping up his regime, might already be nudging him in that direction. – Rappler.com