Senior Deputy Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo led her fellow Pampanga legislators and 15 other congressmen in urging the 19th Congress to rally behind former President Rodrigo Duterte, who faces an investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged crimes against humanity.
Arroyo, the former President, led the 19 legislators in filing House Resolution 780, which called on the House of Representatives to declare “unequivocal defense of former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.”
The bill is titled “A Resolution in Defense of former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, the 16th President of the Republic of the Philippines, Against Investigation and/or Prosecution of the International Criminal Court.”
The Philippines withdrew its membership from the ICC in 2019 under Duterte’s administration.
HR 780 emphasized that Duterte’s “remarkable accomplishments brought about by his relentless campaign against illegal drugs, insurgency, separatism and terrorism, corruption in government and criminality” made the life of Filipinos “better, comfortable and peaceful.”
It likewise cited the need for immediate action to curb the country’s serious and rampant illegal drug situation at the time when Duterte took office, as the drug problem was becoming an “existential threat to the country’s social fabric.”
The resolution further stated that the country’s unprecedented growth in exports and investments during the Duterte presidency was the result of the administration’s “holistic and whole nation approach in ending insurgency and curbing the drug menace in the country.”
Underscoring the Philippines’ functioning and independent judicial system, the Resolution quoted Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, who called the ICC’s intent to resume its investigation against Duterte’s anti-drug campaign as “insulting” and “totally unacceptable.”
Joining Arroyo in filing HR 780 were Reps. Carmelo Lazatin Jr., Aurelio Gonzales, Anna York Bondoc-Sagum, Jose Alvarez, Mary Mitzi Cajayon-Uy, Richard Gomez, Wilton Kho, Loreto Amante, Edward Hagedorn, Edwin Olivarez, Eric Martinez, Eduardo Rama Jr., Dale Corvera, Zaldy Villa, Ma. Rene Ann Lourdes Matibag, Mohamad Khalid Dimaporo, Johnny Pimentel, and Marilyn Primicias-Agabas.
In a separate statement, Arroyo said she is especially keen on ensuring that justice is meted out fairly to everyone, noting she too was “once a victim of unfair investigation and prosecution” during the time of then-President Benigno Aquino III, her successor.
Arroyo was put under hospital arrest for “politically-motivated, trumped-up charges.”
All but one of the cases filed against her were eventually dismissed during the Aquino III presidency, but she had to remain under hospital arrest for the PCSO plunder case, which was finally decided on during the Duterte administration.
The Supreme Court dismissed in July 2016 the PCSO plunder case against the former president and her co-petitioner, Benigno Aguas, ruling that the Sandiganbayan “committed grave abuse of discretion when it denied their respective demurrers to the evidence.”
The Court’s decision specifically stated that “there was no evidence showing that either GMA or Aguas or even (PCSO Chair Rosario) Uriarte… had amassed, accumulated or acquired ill-gotten wealth of any amount.”
The high tribunal also noted that “there was no evidence, testimonial or otherwise…. showing the remotest possibility that the CIFs (Confidential/Intelligence Fund) of the PCSO had been diverted to either GMA or Aguas or Uriarte.”