Right to resist foreign interference

THE hypocritical West is at it again, targeting ‘small potatoes’ like the Philippines, in masking its own gross crimes against humanity.

We are referring to the unsurprising decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) last January 26, 2023, to proceed with its investigation of the phantom crime against humanity that allegedly took place during the country’s war on drugs under the Duterte administration.

That accusation is mainly anchored on the bloated and fantastical number of “as high as 30,000” victims that was spread around by bogus human rights groups, CPP front organizations and foreign-funded local media groups.

The ICC wants to continue targeting the Philippines fully aware that they have a lot of accomplices and local factotums in and out of our government. They don’t expect us to speak with one voice and stand united when it comes to the real issue of upholding our national sovereignty. Just look at the pratting of Sen. Risa Hontiveros and her Yellow-minded crowd and their allies, the Reds.

The ICC wants to continue the probe despite the glaring reality that we have a functioning judicial system and our system of governance, despite its many structural and institutional weaknesses, continue to serve and be trusted by most of our people.

In 2020, faced with overwhelming evidence of war crimes committed by US troops in the Middle East, particularly in Afghanistan and Iraq, the ICC had to eat crow and hurried back to their sanctuary in The Hague, after being threatened with arrest and sanctions by US President Donald Trump should ICC investigators dare to set foot on US soil. Trump’s reason? The ICC, which he described as “corrupt,” is also overstepping by infringing on US sovereignty.

We do not know if both Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile and Department of Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla drew their inspiration from Trump, but the same threat of immediate deportation and arrest of ICC probers should they also dare set foot on our soil should inspire us to unite behind their stand.

Indeed, the impertinence and arrogance of the ICC on insisting to exercise over us a “right” that it did not have—and against the backdrop of the West’s grossest crimes against humanity—is one insult that we should not take sitting down.

And Remulla, during the press conference he held after the ICC announcement, sums up the position for us quite clearly: “I will not stand for any of these antics that will tend to question our sovereignty. I will not accept that.”

Period.