‘Devil on Earth’

Jude Josue Sabio .

THE presence of President Duterte in Israel is like the devil on earth being in a Holy Land, or the Land of God.  It evokes images of Adolf Hitler whom Israel’s President called as the “devil on earth” as being in the land of the victims of his Holocaust. It is like Lucifer himself being in the heavens in the company of God himself and his angels.

Duterte’s Israel trip was preceded by his now infamous remarks that he would be happy to kill three million or more addicts just like what Hitler did in killing “three million” Jews.  Historical accounts put the figure at six million Jews slaughtered by Hitler. Duterte went to Israel after referring to God as stupid, whom the Jews refer to as Yahweh.

Dubbed in the Israeli press as a Hitler admirer who was an uninvited guest, Duterte put up a straight face and visited a holy memorial for the Holocaust victims. One wonders if Duterte was stricken by conscience for the thousands of victims of the system of death squad killings in the country.

The speech of Duterte at such place is double-edged. Mincing no words, and without batting an eyelash, he solemnly declared that an insane or crazy leader should be disposed of immediately, referring surely to Hitler. Was he sure of his message? Did he not refer to himself? On first impression, his speech could be taken to mean also as a show of remorse.

But his message in Israel is the supreme act of deception meant to misleadingly portray himself as a hater of Hitler, not an admirer that he is touted to be, that he condemns the brutality of the Holocaust, and that he is a true and genuine believer in the value of life.

Such deceiving message could not possibly be lost in Israel itself and in the international community as a whole.  When judged according to the compelling evidence of mass murder now on record in the International Criminal Court conducting a preliminary examination, Duterte’s words ring hollow and empty. Duterte just appears to be shamefully ludicrous and laughable.

The story does not end there. He went to Israel to purchase guns for his military and police. Just for the sake of an arms deal, he had to force himself to be the first Philippine head of state to visit Israel, acting and speaking contrary to the vicious image of a self-professed murderer as Harry Roque had earlier described him to be. But the Israelis know better than Mr. Duterte that their guns should not be put in the hands of a man like that. To the utter disappointment of Duterte’s rapacious police, no arms deal was made for them.

As if it was pre-planned, Duterte also went to Jordan, seemingly unmindful of his earlier public insult to UN Human Rights Chief Hussein who earlier told Duterte to undergo a psychiatric evaluation which triggered Duterte’s unceremonious exit from the ICC. A member of the Jordanian royalty, Hussein is a Jordanian prince who is a cousin of Jordan’s King Abdullah.

Was the Jordan trip part of the public relations mounted by Mr. Duterte to blunt the edge of his word war with the Jordanian royalty? But it proved counter-productive, as Mr. Duterte cut short his trip by one day, realizing his discomfort of being an unwelcome visitor in Jordan just like in Israel where he was booed in utter contempt, a portentous sign of a coming retribution in global justice.

The world can never begin to be deceived by Mr. Duterte. “Once a murderer, always a murderer” is what Mr. Duterte is in the eyes of millions of Filipinos, and around the world.

(The author, a lawyer from Misamis Oriental, has filed a case against President Duterte before the International Criminal Court.)