Rodrigo Dute’s collapse marks dramatic ends for Philippines Power Struggle

Less than his 80th birthday, Rodrigo Dute, a person who once vowed to purify his country through a bloody anti -drug and crime campaign, Found himself excluded and detained.

The former President was met by the Philippines police as he reached Manila on a flight from Hong Kong, where he was supporting his candidates for the upcoming mid -term election between the big Philipino Diaspora there.

There was a lot of discussion with the International Criminal Court (ICC) to arrest his arrest, it already came out in the hands of the Philippines government, which moved forward rapidly to execute it.

A stick -looking Mr. Dute, walking with a stick, was moved to an air force within the circumference of the airport. A chartered jet was quickly designed to take him to the ICC in the Hague.

How did this happen? How a man was so powerful and popular, often called “Trump of Asia”, was brought so low?

In vain, his lawyers and family members protested that there was no legal basis for arrest and complained that the weak health of the Dutert was being ignored.

While in the office, Mr. Duterte formed an alliance with the Marcos family – the children of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos who had been working on a long political return. Mr. Duterte could not re -run in the 2022 election, but his daughter Sara, the mayor of the southern city of Davo, was also popular and was a strong contender to change her.

However, Ferdinand Marcos’ son Bongbong, who was in politics all his life, was also kept well to win and was funded very well.

Both families signed a deal. They will work together to bring Bongbong to the presidency and to bring Sara to the sub-repidency, on the assumption that in the next election in 2028, her turn would come and be behind her.

it worked. Both won their positions by a widespread margin. Mr. Duterte hoped that his alliance would save him from any shock in his controversial presidential president after he was out of power.

The most serious threat to him was an investigation into an investigation for thousands of extraordinary murders in an investigation by the ICC, an investigation he had done during the order – after becoming President in 2016, but since 2011 during his tenure as the Mayor of the southern city of Davo.

Mr. Duterte withdrew to the Philippines from the jurisdiction of the ICC in 2019, but its prosecutors argued that he still had a mandate to see the alleged crimes against the humanity committed earlier, and started a formal investigation in 2021. However, President Marcos initially said that his government would not cooperate with the ICC.

The situation changed only after the dramatic breakdown of the Dute-Markos alliance. The strains in their relationship were clarified from the early days of the administration, when the request to give control of the powerful Defense Ministry of Sarah Dute was turned down and instead she was given the Ministry of Education.

President Marcos also distanced himself from the mercury policies of his predecessor, fenced with the US, standing up to China in the seas contesting elections, and prevented the blood-caring dangers of vengeance against drug dealers.

Finally, these were two ambitious, power-hungry clan, which dominated the Filipino politics, and did not have enough power to share them. Relationships arrived in a Nadir last year when Sarah Dutee announced that he had hired a killer to kill President Marcos, anything should happen to him.

At the end of last year, the lower house of the Congress, which is controlled by Marcos Lylists, filed a petition to impeach Ms. Duterte. This test is going to be held in the Senate later this year.

If it is impeachment under the Constitution, it will be stopped from holding a high political office, killing the President’s ambitions for a long time and further weakening the political power of the Duturts.

President Marcos now seems cleverly moving forward to neutralize his main political opponent. But their strategy is not risk -free. Dutes are popular in most parts of the country, and may be able to gather protests against the prosecution of the former President.

Sarah Duterte has issued a statement in which the government has accused its father of surrendering to “foreign powers” and violating the Philippino sovereignty.

An initial test of the support of pleasure by both clans will be mid -term choice in May.

After being taken away from Manila in his comments after taking his predecessor, President Marcos stressed that he was fulfilling the country’s commitments to Interpol, which had distributed to the ICC. But he was about the fact that it was an ICC warrant that he was executing, given that many Filipino would question that the Remit of ICC is in a country that has already left its jurisdiction.

This is not risk-free for ICC. The court these days is an embraced institution in which the Trump administration has threatened to arrest its top officials whether they should travel to the US, and some countries have prepared to extradite those who have been convicted. Getting former President Dutee in the Hague may be therefore a welcome high-profile success may seem like success.

But there was a warning, from China – was not a signator for ICC and currently with the Philippines in Loggerheads – not to politicize ICC matters. This was a slim-skinned reference to the fact that the case, which is considered to be accountability for serious international crimes, played a decisive role in a domestic fight in the Philippines between two rival political forces.