Duterte’s 77th birthday ‘might be his last outside prison cell,’ CPP says

Duterte during a pre-recorded TV interview with Sonshine Media Network International in Davao City aired on March 12, 2022. MALACAÑANG PHOTO / FILE

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte should enjoy his 77th birthday on March 28 as “it might be his last outside a prison cell,” the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) said Monday.

“In a few months, as soon as he steps down from his official term as Philippine President, the Filipino people will without a doubt demand that he be prosecuted for the countless crimes against humanity,” CPP chief information officer Marco Valbuena said in a statement.

“Whatever the outcome of the May elections, the Filipino people will surely raise their demand for Duterte to be immediately arrested and be made to face the International Criminal Court (ICC) or local courts where charges can be filed,” he added.

Valbuena noted that a special revolutionary people’s courts can be established to prosecute the chief executive.

“A special revolutionary people’s courts can also be formed which can order the arrest and prosecution of Duterte in order for him to face the Filipino people’s clamor for justice,” he said.

The ICC’s pre-trial chamber in September 2021 authorized the investigation into the alleged crimes against humanity against Duterte in connection with his bloody war on drugs.

The probe was then halted in November the same year after the Duterte administration asked the ICC to defer its investigation.

Valbuena said that the masses suffered under the president’s “campaign of mass murder,” among others, in the last six years.

Duterte will likewise be questioned for his alleged corruption, failure to defend the country’s marine resources, subservience to foreign economic interests, and allowing Chinese and United States forces to create military bases within the country’s territory, said Valbuena.

JPV