🛑 Stand for Justice – Bring Duterte Back Home!

📜 Why This Petition Matters

Former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte dedicated his life to serving the Filipino people. His leadership brought significant progress in governance, security, and national development. However, he now faces unjust treatment that disregards his contributions and sacrifices for the country.

⚖️ Our Call for Fairness and Due Process
We believe that every Filipino leader deserves fair treatment, due process, and respect for their rights. The current situation is a call for action—we must unite to demand his freedom and safe return to the Philippines.

✊ What We Demand
We, the undersigned, call on:
✅ The Philippine Government to take immediate action to ensure his release and return.
✅ The Filipino People to stand together in support of justice and fairness.
✅ The International Community to uphold his fundamental rights and fair treatment.

📝 Sign & Share – Make Your Voice Heard!
This is a critical moment for our nation. Your signature can help bring justice! Sign this petition, share it widely, and let the world know that we stand united in bringing back our leader.

The Issue: A Tale of Propaganda, Corruption, and Selective Justice
For years, a relentless global propaganda campaign has sought to vilify former Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, portraying him as a ruthless tyrant, a human rights violator, and a leader detested by his own people. This orchestrated effort successfully shaped perceptions, particularly among the idealistic voices of the Western world. The culmination of this smear campaign came on March 11, 2025, when the International Criminal Court (ICC), in collaboration with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., ordered Duterte’s arrest—an action steeped in political expediency rather than the pursuit of true justice.

Marcos Jr.: A President Drowning in Corruption
Marcos Jr.’s administration is riddled with massive corruption, to the extent that even his own allies can no longer stay silent. Veteran journalist and social media influencer Anthony Taberna exposed the rampant bribery in Marcos Jr.’s government:

“I believe that corruption is very shameless under the administration of President Marcos Jr. Shameless. Let me tell you once again—very shameless. If there's anyone who should act on this, it should be President Marcos Jr. President Marcos should speak out against the percentage being asked by senators and congressmen from government projects. If he doesn't speak out against it, then he is tolerating this shameless corruption.”
One glaring example of this corruption is House Speaker Martin Romualdez, Marcos Jr.’s own cousin. Within just three months of assuming office, Romualdez found himself entangled in a high-profile bribery case linked to the Okada Casino scandal—a case scrutinized in the Delaware Court of Chancery (C.A. No. 2023-0128-JTL). The case exposed how Romualdez leveraged his political influence to broker a corrupt deal through his associates Michelle Lazaro and James Lorenzana.

As the Delaware Court’s ruling states:

“Lazaro and Lorenzana brokered a dodgy bargain in which they offered to have Romualdez intervene in return for increased control over CasinoCo’s board, a $35,000-per-month compensation, employment agreements for key executives, and an unspecified ‘item’ for Romualdez.”
Despite this damning evidence, the Marcos administration turned a blind eye. Philippine Congress—dominated by Marcos Jr.'s allies—never censured Romualdez nor subjected him to any ethics investigation.

Now, by surrendering Duterte to the ICC, Marcos Jr. is desperately trying to project an image of a "law-abiding democratic leader" in a bid to salvage his family's tarnished name. But justice under Marcos Jr. is selective, hypocritical, and politically motivated.

Debunking the ICC's "Duterte Still Wields Power" Narrative
The ICC’s warrant of arrest claims:

“The Chamber observes that Mr. Duterte, even though no longer the President of the Philippines, appears to continue to wield considerable power.”
This assertion is false. If Duterte truly wielded "considerable power," how did his own daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, get impeached by a House of Representatives controlled by Marcos Jr.'s cousin?

Duterte’s influence does not stem from political control—it stems from the unwavering support of the Filipino people.His presidency ended with the highest public approval rating in Philippine history, and in 2022, his daughter Sara Duterte won the Vice Presidency with a historic 32,208,417 votes, securing a landslide margin of 22 million votes over her closest rival.

So, the real question is:

Why does the ICC ignore the voice of millions of Filipinos who approved of Duterte’s leadership?
Why do Western media outlets refuse to report the stories of Filipinos who suffered at the hands of drug syndicates?
Duterte Wants Justice—But in a Filipino Court, Not a Foreign One
The claim that Duterte is evading justice is another distortion of facts. Duterte has never refused accountability—he simply demands to be tried under the Philippine legal system, not by a foreign court.

Under the Rome Statute’s Article 59, after an arrest, a suspect must be brought before a local judicial authority to determine:

Whether the warrant of arrest applies;
Whether the arrest was conducted properly;
Whether the suspect’s rights were upheld.
But the Philippine government ignored these legal safeguards and handed Duterte over to the ICC without allowing him to challenge the arrest in a Philippine court.

This is a clear violation of Article 59. The ICC itself has previously emphasized the importance of Article 59 in the case of Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi. The ICC ruled that Article 59 must apply to all suspects, regardless of the severity of the allegations.

Yet, when it came to Duterte, the ICC conveniently overlooked these procedural violations. Why?

Because the Marcos administration is trying to appease the international community to mask its own corruption, and the ICC is more than willing to bend its own rules when politically expedient.

The ICC’s Jurisdiction Over the Philippines is Questionable
Even within the ICC itself, there is no unanimity regarding its jurisdiction over the Philippines. Two of the five ICC judges—Judge Perrin de Brichambaut and Judge Lordkipanidze—dissented.

They argued that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over the Philippines since the country's withdrawal from the Rome Statute took effect before the investigation formally commenced. In other words, the ICC is overreaching, undermining the sovereignty of a nation it barely understands.

Conclusion: Western Media and the ICC’s Manufactured Narrative
The Western media has deliberately excluded dissenting voices from the conversation, pushing only narratives that align with their biased portrayal of Duterte and the Philippines. This is not about justice—this is about political control.

Meanwhile, Marcos Jr. is using Duterte’s ICC arrest as a distraction from his family’s own legacy of plundering billions from the Filipino people.

Notice how Western media outlets celebrate the ICC’s actions:

"Arrest of Philippines' Duterte offers a glimmer of hope at troubled ICC" - Reuters
"Duterte's first night in ICC custody is a pivotal moment for the court." - BBC
"Duterte’s ICC arrest is a victory for a faltering rules-based order." - Washington Post
But who are these foreign journalists to rewrite Philippine history? They do not live in the Philippines. They do not understand its realities.

As the late Filipino National Artist F. Sionil Jose observed when Duterte was elected:

“A revolution has started… and it is long in coming. It is a necessity.”
It is time to recognize that the fight for the true history of the Philippines is not over. It is a fight against foreign control of our narrative, against a corrupt government willing to betray its own people for political survival, and against an international judicial body that bends the rules when it suits its agenda.

The Filipino people deserve the truth—and that truth will not be dictated by Western propaganda.

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