ICC's Corruption Charges May Inadvertently Reveal #TindigPilipinas' Dirty Laundry

These days, I think the problem is not the statement "Proud to be Pinoy!" or "Pinoy Pride!" itself but the wrong application of it. I don't think anything's wrong with saying "Pinoy Pride!" or "Proud to be Pinoy!" to events such as the Gilas wins or Beverly Caimen's career in Japan. Now another event where Filipinos should be proud of and maybe even shout louder "PINOY PRIDE!" and NOT "PNOY PRIDE!" is the withdrawal from the International Criminal Court.

The Manila Times also reveal this one about the ICC which isn't too shocking and why I believe it's no longer President Duterte's right but his duty to withdraw the Philippines from such an organization:

Usually, economic power translates to political control. The ICC is not an exception. Yet, the ICC’s funding is not transparent. It is financed “primarily” by its member states. The contributions of each state are determined by the method used by the UN, which roughly corresponds with a country’s income. In 2017, the ICC’s budget was €145 million. About two-thirds came from only 10 countries, more than half from Europe’s former colonial powers and the rest from Japan, South Korea, and Canada.

In the world economy, the EU accounts for about a fifth of the total; its funding of the ICC is thus three times its share of the global economy. Yet, according to the ICC, “additional funding is provided by voluntary government contributions, international organizations, individuals, corporations, and other entities.”

The lack of transparency and accountability creates potential for gross moral hazard. For instance, multinationals that have funded warlords in Africa to extract oil, gas, minerals and conflict diamonds might be particularly interested in targeting African politicians in the ICC.

Critics believe that as the ICC ignores the governments and focuses on their leaders, it may support flawed investigations that ignore the role of the governments while tacitly supporting regime change through new leaders. In some cases, prosecution of leaders in the ICC has made them less likely to peacefully step down. Also, success in investigations requires state cooperation, which the ICC mandate shuns and that can result in inconsistent and discriminatory selection of cases.

Unsurprisingly, the half a dozen countries that voted against the ICC Statute in 1998 included both the US and China. While President Clinton signed the statute, he knew that it would never be ratified on Capitol Hill.

More recently, the US and Russia have said they no longer intend to become ICC members and thus have no legal obligations arising from their signature of the statute. China’s view is that the ICC goes against the sovereignty of nation states.

That should be a real reason why President Duterte should withdraw from ICC. If I were president, prime minister or whatever high rank I'd get -- I would really want to urge everyone from my side to the opposition not to support such a huge money hungry monster. You can see that the ICC has problems of a lack of transparency and selective justice -- so how is this kind of organization really all about check and balance? 

You can see that members of the merged anti-Duterte movement (which has members of Liberal Party, Nacionalista, and some from Jejomar Binay's side) are on the move. I don't think that the ICC would just let them file a petition to have President Duterte investigated without any real proof. I think it would cost plenty of money. I don't know how much money is paid by members of #TindigPilipinas to the ICC but you may consider the following as the sources of such tremendous amounts of money:

• Members of #TindigPilipinas who are in power are stealing from the national treasury during the Duterte Administration.
• Stolen Yolanda relief goods may also be part of the sources of stolen wealth.
• They may also be receiving money from big time criminals such as big time drug dealers (whether illegal Chinese, any kind of foreigner or Filipino) to get all that money.

What's possible is that while Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and Representative Gary Alejano are on their way there -- they are using the people's money to file bogus charges. All it takes is to pay President de Gurmendi and she will release several cases against President Duterte even if her only sources are the Philippines mainstream media such as ABiaS-CBN, GMA-7, Philippine Daily Inquirer and CRappler to name a few sources that they are using instead of having a credible investigation.

There's the possibility right now that if the public funds aren't enough then the Yellowtards do have their network of oligarchs. I failed to consider that Loida Nicolas-Lewis and her co-oligarchs and business associates may come up with the bribe money enough to get the ICC to arrest President Duterte. You can think of how much money the oligarchs and Lewis' associates may have in order to carry out such an operation.

This may also mean that the ICC corruption as it gets out may also put Feeling Vice President Leni Loud Robredo in danger for this reason. First, why is there so many delays in the recounts in the electoral protest filed by Bongbong Marcos? Second, why is Feeling VP Leni Loud giving her message concerning extrajudicial killings to the international community? This may end up revealing any plan that would make her the new president (because she would so easy to puppet) in place of overthrown President Duterte.

It may only be a matter of time that President Duterte's decision will totally wreck the Liberal Party and its allies into oblivion. Just think of how many can be charged with treason all thanks to the act of withdrawing from the ICC.

Updated: March 21, 2018