Queen’s gambit

By BenCyrus Ellorin

PEOPLE from both sides of the political fence were surprised by the decision of Vice President Leni Robredo to call on the bluff of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Unprepared, the propaganda mill of the administration was on high gear to further vilify the vice president. As usual, they populated social media with memes containing mangled statements of the VP. One such disinformation was on the VP purportedly saying she would not allow police officers to carry guns in drug ops. That was another stupid disinformation.

Unlike his projection, his brand as a macho leader who is quick to the trigger against corruption, the present occupant of Malacanang is weak and vulnerable. He does not have the needed sophistication to understand and solve complex problems. “A fixer,” according to nephew Nuelle Duterte, the daughter of his younger brother.

In a little more than two years, he will be an ordinary citizen. No longer immune from lawsuit and no longer in control of vast resources of the state to protect his interests.

Legal action, both domestic and international, is the sword of Damocles he has to contend with now and then.

As an international response to his bloody and anti-poor war on drugs, the UN Human Rights Council has a standing resolution for the PH government to do the following:

• to write a comprehensive report on the war on drugs in the Philippines and present it to the council.

• to cooperate with UN offices and mechanisms by facilitating country visits and refraining from all acts of intimidation or retaliation.

• to take all necessary measures to prevent extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, to carry out impartial investigations and to hold perpetrators accountable, under international norms and standards, including on due process and the rule of law.

Failure to comply with this UN resolution introduced by Iceland may result in raising this issue to the UN Security Council who may then ask the International Criminal Court to look into the matter.

Countries that supported the UN resolution sponsored may also unilaterally stop aid or whatever cooperation with the PH.

This hurts. Rapidly urbanizing cities like Cagayan de Oro are on the cusp of a traffic crisis, following Metro Manila.

Already, Cagayan de Oro may not get funding aid from the Spanish government for mega projects like flyovers that would ease transportation in Cagayan de Oro City. That will hurt.

There was deluge of international aid that followed the October 2013 Bohol-Cebu earthquakes. More came after “Yolanda” hit a month later. The Mactan International Airport was extremely busy catering to C-17s, Antonovs, Chinooks, Boeing and Airbus transporters, vertical take-off and landing Ospreys and all sorts of birds. Do we have similar or even smaller scale international humanitarian missions now?

VP Leni may save the country from sanctions and further embarrassment. Her appointment as anti-drugs “czar” and rolling out of the framework to do away with unnecessary killings in the anti-drug campaign may be construed as compliance to the UN resolution.

Her appointment as drug czar could be construed as making the country’s justice system work to ensure the protection of the right to life and due process — fundamental human rights — to stave off taking jurisdiction by the ICC.

The ICC can take jurisdiction over person/s in sovereign states if proven that the justice system of that country has failed to function to make those who commit crimes against humanity and human rights accountable.

Having VP Leni take a major role in the anti-drug war and ensuring the rights of those accused are protected could be construed as proof of a functional criminal justice system as far as the drug war is concerned.

In 2011, mounting international pressure, economic sanctions and threats of ICC prosecution led to the release of prominent political prisoners by the ruthless generals of Myanmar. The Myanmar government also established a national human rights commission. Later in 2012, it fulfilled, as promised general elections, the first since 1991, where the results were scuttled by the Tatmadaw or the Burmese Army.

The DDS should be thankful to Lugaw or whatever they call the VP.

Let’s hope she succeeds in putting the rule of law back into the anti-drugs campaign. Eventually, the people win when the rule of law lords over the land.

As in chess and real life, the queen’s gambit saves the king.

(BenCyrus Ellorin is a former journalist. A graduate of International Studies, he had worked in Myanmar as a fellow of Fredskorpset of Norway.)