It has been almost three years since Rodrigo Duterte stepped down from the Philippine presidency. What seemed like impunity from the thousands of Filipinos killed in his bloody drug war was suddenly threatened when the International Criminal Court (ICC) released a warrant for his arrest over alleged crimes against humanity on Tuesday, March 11.

It was a breakthrough in an investigation that started in 2018. Human rights advocates celebrated. Journalists resurfaced stories of families whose loved ones were killed. 

But when the Dutertes, both the father and daughter Vice President Sara, appeared before overseas Filipino communities before and after the March 11 arrest, they were met with nothing but warmth.

Vice President Sara Duterte follows former president Rodrigo Duterte to the Netherlands a day after his arrest
The former president is well, Sara told a crowd of supporters who attended her press conference in The Hague past midnight on Saturday, March 15 (Manila time), just after his first appearance before the ICC pre-trial chamber. He just misses Filipino food, she said.

“We will cook for him!” supporters could be heard saying in live broadcasts. Some affirmed Sara’s speculation that they skipped work or traveled from other countries just to show up for them.

There were the progressive groups that sided with the ICC’s action, demanding justice for all those killed. But some photos of these gatherings showed thin groups. They were, undeniably, still the minority.

In the 2016 presidential election, Duterte won in a landslide with almost 16 million votes. In the overall result, his closest opponent Mar Roxas still managed to get at least half of this, at 9.7 million. But the landslide was much more pronounced in the overseas voters’ tally — Duterte got 307,858 votes, while Roxas, a mere 49,550.

Duterte enjoyed popularity until the end of his presidency despite the alleged human rights violations committed during his term and his controversial reforms in democratic institutions. The overseas community’s views on Duterte mirror that of the Filipino people as a whole, but with special affection due to his accomplishments for the sector.

While many call for Duterte to be brought home, critics are determined to sustain the momentum from his arrest and make him answer for his alleged crimes.

‘I have friends who were killed’ 
 
Dominik, an overseas Filipino worker (OFW), migrated to the United States over a decade ago. He had been undocumented, but sought to find a job to uplift his life and the lives of people he loved. He told his story, with his last name withheld, in a press conference organized by Bayan USA, Malaya Movement USA, and the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines-US (ICHRP-US) on Friday, March 14.

Most of his friends lived in poor areas in Bulacan, a hotspot for the drug war killings. 

Dominik was also once an addict. He saw drug addiction as a disease. Before leaving the Philippines, he had planned to go to Canada, but did not want to abandon one of his closest friends, who had three children.

“I’m going to change my life and I’m going to go to Canada…. And I promised him, ‘Once I go to Canada, I’m going to send you money so that you can put up a store,’” he said. Life brought him to the US, but Dominik still followed through with his plan to send his friend money.

“But then, he was killed. Not only killed, he was brutally murdered. My other friends were telling me that they found his body in the river floating,” he said. 

The father of three was wrapped in duct tape. Underneath, a shot to the head and a shot to the chest.

Other OFWs were victims of the drug war, directly and indirectly. There was Mark Culata, a 23-year-old OFW based in Saudi Arabia, who was brutally killed while visiting his family in Cavite in 2016 during Duterte’s first months in office. 

In 2017, Luzviminda Siapo knelt and kissed the feet of her employer in Kuwait to let her go home after her 19-year-old son Raymart was killed for allegedly peddling marijuana. 

Brandon Lee, chairperson of ICHRP-US who also witnessed Duterte’s crackdown on critics in rural poor communities, welcomed the development of Duterte’s arrest.

“This should only be the beginning. We demand full accountability and justice for all victims of Duterte’s bloody drug war, his war against the people, and his relentless attacks on indigenous peoples, human rights defenders, and activists,” said Lee.

‘Duterte was for the common people’ 
 
Despite the years that had passed, Dominik grew emotional again as he recalled his friend who was found in a river wrapped in duct tape.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, a few days earlier, Filipinos in Hong Kong celebrated the man who encouraged violence as a means to eliminate illegal drugs.

On Sunday, March 9, Duterte appeared at a thanksgiving event for OFWs in Hong Kong, where Filipino newspaper The SUN reported about 2,000 supporters attended. One of the attendees was Rafael Eubra Jr., deputy vice chair for OFW affairs of the Duterte-led Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Laban Party.

“The energy level was very high, but the emotions were much higher. A lot of people were in tears. You know, the OFWs, they really love the president, and they showed their emotions from the streets,” Eubra said in an interview with Rappler on Friday.

When the vice president also made an appearance, Eubra likened the energy inside the Southorn Stadium to a massive bomb exploding as the place roared with cheers, laughter, and excitement.

Former chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo was cited in a report as saying Duterte flew to Hong Kong with no other reason but to express thanks to OFWs. But with rumors of the ICC warrant out, it was also a convenient show of force. Duterte was still very much loved wherever he went.

Why do OFWs have a special affection for Duterte? For Eubra, it’s because Duterte was seen as a man who lived a simple life and saw all forms of work as having equal dignity. The Department of Migrant Workers, created in 2021 to exclusively cater to OFWs and their families, was his campaign promise.

“His leadership demonstrated a political will, and his policies were for the common good of all, particularly the poor and regular people. That’s why you see the influx of people that he touched,” Eubra said.

Eubra himself was an OFW for 32 years, working in the banking industry in the US and several countries in Europe and the Middle East. He started supporting Duterte just before he was elected president, and Eubra decided to come home for good in 2019 as he saw “hope” for Filipino people under Duterte’s governance.

During Duterte’s presidency, the commander-in-chief repeatedly ordered his cops to shoot to kill drug addicts, particularly if and when they supposedly fought back. Eubra interpreted this to mean that the police were not given the mandate to simply kill. He said that while he was not a police officer, he learned from conversations with uniformed officers that danger on the job was inevitable.

“I don’t think our police officers were given the mandate to kill criminals. I believe in human rights, and I believe that even the guilty are entitled to their own liberty and civil rights,” he said.

“[Duterte] wanted his officers, his men in uniform, to be protected, to defend themselves. If your life is in danger and the only means to [survive] is to shoot and possibly kill, then they have to do it. I personally agree with that,” he added.

Duterte admitted in an October 2024 Senate hearing that he ordered cops to “encourage” suspects to fight back so they had an excuse to kill.

Dozens of minors and college students were killed in the drug war. Human rights groups found that the war targeted poor communities.

‘Taste of justice’

During Duterte’s initial appearance before the ICC on Friday, the court set for September 23 his confirmation of charges hearing.

The once-confident Duterte appeared frail as he faced the court via video call, while his counsel and longtime friend Salvador Medialdea asserted before presiding judge Iulia Motoc that Duterte’s capture was an illegal arrest. Medialdea also brought up his client’s “debilitating medical issues,” though Motoc said that the court’s doctor was of the opinion that he was mentally aware and fit.

“My heart, our hearts are bleeding. He hardly could speak and appears weak. The extrajudicial rendition was brushed off and not even recognized by the chamber,” said Eubra. “Sad. We’re all sad.”

But for progressive organization Bayan USA, it was a much-awaited step forward.

“Seeing former president Duterte in court — even if just for a pre-trial hearing — was a small taste of the long-awaited justice that victims’ families, activists, lawyers, and so many others have been fighting for for almost a decade,” the group told Rappler.

Both pro- and anti-Duterte Filipinos believe that the other side is fueling propaganda, and each side is pushing forward respective campaigns to continue or halt the ICC trial. Overseas Filipinos are organizing mobilizations, just like their compatriots at home. Bayan USA reported that hundreds of Filipinos across 10 cities in the US held mobilizations on Friday.

Eubra believes that OFWs now have a role to tell the international community that Duterte does not deserve to be tried.

“Little is said about Duterte in other countries. What they know, what they hear, is the propaganda of his critics that he is a murderer, a war freak. So, now, the voices of the OFWs in the respective countries — particularly Hong Kong, the Middle East — are waking up the awareness of the foreigners,” he said.

Disinformation operations that favor Duterte are well-documented, with social media playing a pivotal role in his 2016 win and evergreen popularity. This is the world exposed to OFWs, as many of them turn to social media as their only line to the Philippines.

Duterte’s critics abroad know they are outnumbered, as they always have been. Still, the fight continues.

“If anything, these developments make us even more motivated to continue fighting for justice and accountability,” Bayan USA said.

“And to the families who moved overseas to escape the violence, to the OFW mothers and fathers who had to return home to the devastating news of their children being murdered, to the broad Filipino community here in the USA who want to take a stand but may not know how — know that BAYAN USA and many other peoples organizations are here to be with you and continue the fight until justice is served,” the group added. – Rappler.com

---

Michelle Abad

Click here to subscribe to ESSF newsletters in English and or French.