QUEZON CITY (MindaNews / 28 March) — Fasting of Muslims in the Philippines went quite well until the 11th of Ramadan 1446 when former President Rodrigo Duterte was dragged to the International Criminal Court in the Hague, the Netherlands. 

Like most Filipinos – whether pro- or anti-Du30 – many Muslims in the country were aghast and could hardly believe as the event happened very fast. While fasting, many of them rushed to the streets while others resorted to social media expressing their support or protests and views into the alleged illegal arrest of the former president. 

The country has never been this polarized once again, with the masses of Overseas Filipino Workers in many countries steered onto the global stage in support of their Tatay Digong while proposing a “zero-remittance week” protest tactic.

Meantime, a week after the arrest of Du30 by the Interpol and his detention at the ICC, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unilaterally broke the ceasefire in Palestine and launched another round of wars against the Palestinians in Gaza, killing, in the first salvo of bombings, more than 400 civilians, mostly children. Yet, no Filipinos including Muslims went to the street to condemn Netanyahu. 

Many probably forgot that when Netanyahu was prevaricating in the aftermath of Hamas’s October 7 attack, Du30 was fast in commenting that if he were in Bibi’s shoes, he would not hesitate to transform Gaza into the world’s largest graveyard.

Today, Israel’s killing spree against Palestinians continued with the international community resorting, as usual, into a deafening silence while Israel resumed its atrocities in Gaza, West Bank, Southern Lebanon and Dara’a in Southern Syria. Since October 07, 2023, the death toll of Palestinians is already more than 61,700 according to Gaza’s Government Media Office. 

As the ICC charged Du30 with crimes against humanity for allegedly killing thousands of people, even earlier, Bibi Netanyahu and a few others were charged by the ICC with crimes against humanity on November 21, 2024.

On his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin was charged with war crimes in Ukraine, crimes against humanity, and genocide by the ICC on March 17, 2023. 

Obviously, the death toll in Gaza and Ukraine (including those in West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Iran) are exponentially greater than Du30’s alleged crimes of murder while generally broadcasted as crimes against humanity.

It was not clear whether Netanyahu listened to Du30 in 2023. The latter’s success in turning Marawi into rubble in 2017 was due to massive bombings by Philippine armed forces with Putin supplying two Russian naval boats of AK47s after Martial Law in Mindanao was declared while Digong and his top brass were in Moscow. 

While Israel and Russia were despicably dismissive about such charges on Putin and Netanyahu and his ilk as the ICC could simply resort to passive countenance on such haughty dismissal, the Philippine government brought Du30 to the Hague placing the country on a “tipping point” of civil unrest according to a former Filipino Senator. The dragging of Du30 to the ICC does not necessarily show people’s pursuit for justice let alone reform of the Philippine justice system but increasing the fracture of the Filipino nation. 

It is even more aggravated with the fact that no less than the Philippine government played a complicit role by handing the former president to that foreign body, despite the fact that the Philippines already withdrew from the Rome Statute in 2019. 

The longer Du30 is tried, convicted and detained in The Hague, the wider the wedge of polarization would become. If Du30 returns to the country in a wheelchair or in a coffin, it would not only end the ball game in favor of VP Sara and other Dutertes. It could potentially cut short the Administration’s remaining term. 

Du30 wished for Gaza to become the world’s largest graveyard was realized by his friend Bibi Netanyahu. Yet, they both face charges of crimes against humanity, karmic justice for Du30’s unkind words on Palestinians caught him fast through the ICC that came with a separate charge of crimes; while Netanyahu and his lieutenants remained scot-free despite ICC’s even graver charge of genocide and ethnic cleansing.

As Netanyahu had eaten much and continued to eat a big chunk of the forbidden fruit, the ICC is content to munch on Du30 even if he simply took a small bite with his supposed legitimate national policy on war against drugs. Is this the reason why Du30 became a hapless victim of geopolitics not necessarily by imperial domination but due to an increasingly polarizing Philippine politics?  

What do these three related but distinct events (in Israel, Russia, and the Philippines relative to charges of crimes against humanity in the ICC) imply? 

It is answerable with one word: gravitas (or the lack of it) – the value of seriousness, dignity, respectability, importance, and grandeur in the conduct of one self; or stature of a nation; and, for that matter, one’s standing in the community of nations. 

Rightly or wrongly, Israel and Russia have gravitas in the conduct of their national and geo-politics. They have their national sentiments intact, despite their leaders’ excesses and vulnerabilities. They are able to use them to their advantage. No nations and international bodies could trample their rights and sovereignty. 

On the contrary, the Philippines suffers with a fading gravitas in both domestic and world politics where Filipinos generally have been plagued by self-inflicted, often petty, conduct of personality and dynastic politics. World Politics Review noted that “Duterte’s Arrest is Also Tied to Philippine Politics.”

Philippine leaders could not rise with what Jose Rizal lamented during his time the loss of sentimeinto nacional or national sentiment amongst Filipinos. As such, their nation is fractured; their institutions weak; their political system dysfunctional with their justice system only favoring the rich and strong to the chagrin of the poor and the weak. 

More than a hundred years later, Rizal’s lamentation of a dying gravitas and national sentiment among Filipinos reverberates even more strongly these days – a reason why after electing their leaders to power, the same people would bring them down through impeachment, people power and so on. 

As Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago said, while everyone expresses strong words against corruption, it is difficult to find one who’s not wallowing in it. Except President Fidel Ramos, most Philippine Presidents and Vice Presidents since the time of VP Elpidio Quirino had been subjected to impeachment and other charges. 

No wonder, in many growth indicators in the ASEAN, the Philippines is continuously sliding away from Vietnam and is already slightly at par with Cambodia and Laos.  Meanwhile, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand have gone far ahead unlike in the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s when these countries used to look at the Philippines as a model of growth and democracy. 

With the UniTeam already in shambles in almost half of the term of the administration, the remaining half would be plagued with partisan politics. Leaders across the political spectrum would be hard pressed to work for nation-building and the pursuit of national interest, growth and development; instead they would be busy scoring points against each other. The nation will unfortunately be dragged again to its knees.

Thankfully, these lost words – gravitas and national sentiment – remind us in the Month of Ramadan where  successful saim (those who fast) ought to recover the values of falah (excellence), ihtiram (honor), adab (ethics) and to become the compass of their lives and their armors in facing challenges ahead.

Self-empowerment is the first step to regaining gravitas and national sentiment. Those enlightened souls could gain traction into a bigger collective well-nigh of Rizal’s vision.

[MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Julkipli Wadi is Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of the Philippines].