ADMINISTRATION lawmakers yesterday urged the camp of former president Rodrigo Duterte to stop resorting to drama and theatrics when facing the International Criminal Court (ICC), saying they tried but failed to turn his trial into a “political circus.” La Union Rep. Paolo Ortega V was referring to the rejection of the ICC Pre Trial Chamber I of the claim made by Duterte legal counsel and former executive secretary Salvador Medialdea that the former president was unfit to stand trial because of his medical conditions. Presiding Judge Iulia Antoanella Motoc, a Romanian, on Friday night rebuffed Medialdea and said doctors already checked Duterte and declared that he was fit to stand trial. The chamber’s judges also ignored Medialdea’s claims that Duterte was allegedly kidnapped and that his transfer to the ICC’s custody was supposedly political on the part of the Philippine government. “Hindi pupuwede ang mga theatrics ni Medialdea sa ICC (Medialdea’s theatrics won’t work in the ICC). The judge saw right through his statements. It even made him look amateurish when he tried to invoke political persecution instead of addressing the charges directly,” Ortega said. Motoc has set the next hearing on September 23, the official start of Duterte’s trial for crimes against humanity. “Tama na ang ‘Budolterte’ o pambubudol sa tao. Hindi ito eleksyon, hindi ito propaganda war, at mas lalong hindi ito fake news. Huwag gawing drama ang isang seryosong paglilitis (Stop ‘Budolterte’ or fooling the people. This isn’t the elections, it’s not propaganda war and most of all, it’s not fake news. Don’t turn a serious trial into a drama),” said Ortega. He said the ICC only deals with “legal and factual” issues and “political theatrics have no place in a legitimate trial.” He added that Duterte’s first appearance before the ICC judges “only reinforced the perception that his defense team is more concerned about appealing to the public rather than presenting a solid legal argument.” “The more Duterte’s allies attempt to shift the narrative away from the charges of crimes against humanity, the more they expose their lack of a real legal defense,” Ortega said. “No amount of political grandstanding can erase the fact that thousands were killed during the drug war without due process. The ICC is not a political arena – it is a court of law. Let Duterte’s lawyers prove his innocence there, not in press conferences,” he said. “Let the truth come out. If Duterte believes he is innocent, let him prove it in court. Huwag na silang gumawa ng gulo para lang takasan ang kaso (Don’t make scenes just to escape liability) .” Rep. Jude AAcidre (PL, Tingog) agreed, saying the ICC trial is “not about political vendettas.” “This is about justice for the thousands who were killed in the name of a drug war that disregarded due process. Instead of politicizing the process, they should allow the law to take its course,” he said. “The ICC is not easily swayed by political theatrics. They deal with politicized criminal cases all the time, yet they remain committed to the truth and the rule of law. That is what the former president should face – a legal battle, not a political one,” he said. He also echoed the statement of Ruben Carranza, senior associate at the International Center for Transitional Justice, who criticized Duterte’s camp for failing to present a clear legal strategy and instead using the ICC proceedings as a political battlefield. Acidre said the Duterte legal team found itself on unfamiliar territory of being accorded due process and was unable to adapt and urged the former president’s camp to just “focus on legal defense instead of mobilizing political supporters to sow misinformation and disrupt the legal proceedings.” “No amount of rallies or propaganda can erase the fact that thousands were killed without due process. If Duterte believes he is innocent, he should prove it in court, not in the streets,” he said. ‘BE DISCERNING’ Communications Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer Claire Castro, in an interview with Teleradyo 630, reiterated her appeal to the public to be discerning and consider all the facts first instead of blindly believing all that they hear, watch or read. Castro made the statement following claims that the former chief executive’s house in Davao City will allegedly be raided by authorities. She said the police has made it clear that there are no warrants issued to conduct a raid in the Duterte patriarch’s house and the homes of the Duterte children. “So sana po imulat natin ang mga mata sa mga kwento ng mga Duterte supporters dahil iyan (raid) po walang mga basehan (Duterte supporters should open their eyes because that has no basis),” she said She also said that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. never wrote a letter stating that he would not surrender his predecessor should the ICC order his arrest. A supposed letter from the administration allegedly given to Vice President Sara Duterte in 2024 circulated in social media platforms during the weekend. Castro said the letter indicated Marcos’ stand that the Philippines will not cooperate with the ICC but it did not mention anything about surrendering the former president if Interpol requested. “That’s the daughter, the daughter of the accused, the daughter of the one brought to the International Criminal Court, so what can you expect from the daughter),” Castro asked in Filipino. “So lahat ang pwedeng ibutas, lahat ang pwedeng gamitin salita para masira ang gobyerno sa mata ng iba, gagamitin nila (So all that can be used to destroy the government in the eyes of others would be used),” she added. Castro also called out a pronouncement made by Medialdea that the elder Duterte has gone missing after he was turned over to the ICC. “Iyan talaga ang kanilang magiging naratibo. Una may paawa effect iyan; pangalawa, sisirain nila talaga nila yung gobyerno dahil iyung gobyerno mismo, na gumamit ng RA 9851, ang nag-surrender kay dating pangulong Duterte sa ICC (That would be their narrative. First they want to appear pitiful; second, they will try to destroy the government because it, using RA 9851, surrendered former president Duterte to the ICC),” she said. “Wala tayong aasahang magandang kumento sa panig ng mga Duterte supporters (We cannot expect anything good from Duterte supporters),” she added. Castro was referring to Republic Act 9851 or the “Act Defining And Penalizing Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide And Other Crimes Against Humanity, Organizing Jurisdiction, Designating Special Courts, And For Related Purposes” that allows the Philippine government to turnover a Filipino suspected of committing crimes and already investigations or fa cing charges abroad to be turned over to foreign courts. ‘DIVIDED NATION’ Former Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president Archbishop Socrates Villegas yesterday lamented the division further caused by Duterte’s arrest. In his Pastoral Letter to the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan, Villegas said: “Divided by ethnic roots and languages, politics and economics, faith and religion, literacy and ignorance, prestige and anonymity, weaknesses and strengths — we are a nation wrecked by division.” “As if we do not have an excess of reasons to be divided as a nation, here is fate giving us another explosive situation that has added more fragmentation to our already highly divided nation,” he added. The Lingayen-Dagupan prelate said the division is even worsened by fake news, blind sentimentalism, vulgarity, violence, and mob rule. “Such polluted drinks poison our spirit and slowly cause the decay of morality and the loss of rationality in our society,” said Villegas, adding that such a division can be resolved only by using facts as source and basis for one’s words and actions. “So much misinformation, disinformation and malinformation are in the cyberspace. The only basis for our words and actions must be the truth and nothing else,” he said. He also urged the faithful to always look for what is right with those they disagree with. “Seeing our common ground, we can move forward to identify our differences. With utmost rationality and responsibility, we can agree to disagree,” said Villegas. Lastly, he urged the faithful to choose to abstain from desiring to destroy one another. “Let us lower down our bows and arrows of legalese; lay down the guns of our tongues; and see that, before these divisions of politics and opinions, we were one in humanity, one in nationhood,” said Villegas. – With Jocelyn Montemayor and Gerard Naval