Vile hypocrisy

By Artchil B. Fernandez

News that a supposed arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) had been issued to Bato de la Rosa electrified the nation. The report quoted Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla who made the statement in an interview on dzRH radio. The report is still being verified by the Department of Justice (DOJ). No official confirmation had been made by The Hague on the said warrant.

Despite the absence of official confirmation, the Die Duterte Supporters (DDS) universe went wild when news of the supposed arrest warrant on de la Rosa came out. The reaction to the news of de la Rosa’s impending arrest that drew national attention was that of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano. He decried the “injustice” done to his fellow Duterte senator.

“Every Filipino, whether senator or citizen, deserves equal treatment and the full measure of due process. The same Constitution that shields the powerless from abuse also holds the powerful accountable,” Cayetano said. “Bato de la Rosa deserves to be accorded due process of law,” Cayetano pointed out.

“When the law is applied faithfully and without fear or favor, trust in government will follow. Because in the end, it is not our positions or politics that define us — it is our principles, our conscience, and our faith,” Cayetano pontificated.

“And let this be a reminder to all Filipinos — whether in power or in protest, in government or in opposition — that justice must never be used to settle political scores, but to serve truth. The law must not be a weapon to divide us, but a bridge that unites us in fairness, trust, and faith in the system we all depend on,” Cayetano added. Here Cayetano is decrying that bringing justice to the victims of the bloody and gory war on drugs by the previous administration is settling political scores.

Hearing Cayetano utter these words makes one cringe if not puke. Cayetano acts like a champion of “due process,” justice, and human rights. His sudden discovery of the rule of law and the majesty of the Constitution is sickening. This is vicious and vile hypocrisy. Where does Cayetano get the nerve to make these public statements?

Cayetano was a secretary of foreign affairs of the Duterte administration. He assumed the post at the height of the brutal war on drugs, a pet project of Rodrigo Duterte. In an interview with Al Jazeera host and award-winning British journalist Mehdi Hasan, Cayetano made a false claim that the 3,800 (at that time) killed in the drugs war were all drug dealers. He answered in the affirmative when Hasan confronted him.

Hasan’s follow-up question sent Cayetano squirming, exposing his duplicity. “How do we know that? You didn’t try them. You didn’t prosecute them. You didn’t charge them. You shot them on site! That’s not a democratic way of solving crime, is it?”

Cayetano stammered, parroting the bankrupt line that those who died pulled a gun, fought the police. All of them, Cayetano incredulously claimed “nan-laban” thus killed. “How do we know that? None of them were tried. Normally, you arrest someone, put them on trial,” Hasan told an uncomfortable Cayetano.

The interview was done in October 2017 when the drugs war was in full swing. The final toll in Duterte’s drug war is 6,248 at the end of his term according to official police figures. Human rights advocates estimate that as high as 30,000 Filipinos perished in the drugs war. Duterte is now facing crimes against humanity charges in The Hague.

When Duterte, supported by Cayetano and Bato de la Rosa mercilessly slaughtered thousands in the name of the drugs war, due process, human rights and the rule of law were thrashed. They not only ignored the provisions of the Constitution particularly the Bill of Rights but trampled on them. The victims do not have rights, with Vitaliano Aguirre II, another Duterte official calling them animals.

Now that Duterte and his cahoots like Bato de la Rosa, the chief implementer of Operation Tokhang, are being made accountable for their crimes, Cayetano invokes “due process” and rule of law. When Filipinos were cruelly murdered in the drugs war, Cayetano acted as if “due process” did not exist. Now that his master and fellow Duterte senator are being held accountable for crimes against humanity, Cayetano has become a fierce advocate of due process.

The double standard and vicious hypocrisy of Duterte supporters especially high officials like Cayetano are infuriating and abominable. For Cayetano, due process is only for the likes of him and chum de la Rosa. Ordinary Filipinos living in the margins do not have human rights. The double standard and low regard of ordinary Filipinos by Cayetano makes him a supreme hypocrite, a double-faced creature of the dark.

For so long top officials of the land like Alan Peter Cayetano have played, mocked, and ridiculed the rule of law with their double standard and vile hypocrisy. They only remember and cite the rule of law and due process when it suits their wicked agenda but would have no qualms discarding them when it does not.

The detestable behavior and character of public officials like Cayetano destroy the rule of law. Public faith in the country’s institutions is eroded because of officials like Cayetano whose hypocrisy is beyond measure. Cayetano is a paragon of duplicity, an epitome of everything that is wrong with Philippine society. Philippines is in hell because of officials like Cayetano who is in public office for self-service.

There is no hope for the Philippines as long as people like Alan Peter Cayetano hold high positions in government. Public office for these people is merely a means to enrich themselves, advance their personal interests, and a tool for self-aggrandizement. Unless Filipinos cleanse the government of these creatures, Philippines has no chance to get out of its underdeveloped status. Sweeping them out of public office is national salvation.