Paolo Duterte Blasts ICC as 'Lapdog of the Powerful' — Says Court Is Silent on Iran Bombing but Targets His Father
Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte unleashed a fiery broadside against the International Criminal Court on Sunday, calling it a 'lapdog of the powerful' that practices 'selective prosecution and weaponized law.' The congressman — son of detained former President Rodrigo Duterte — questioned why the ICC is silent about bombings in Iran and mass civilian deaths in Palestine.
'The tribunal's silence is not neutrality — it is complicity,' Paolo said in a statement. He argued that while the ICC aggressively pursued his father for the Philippine drug war, it has failed to act on what he described as far larger-scale atrocities happening in the Middle East right now.
Paolo defended the former President's anti-drug campaign, describing it as a response to a 'national emergency involving illegal drugs, violent crime, and organized syndicates.' He called the policies efforts to protect citizens and preserve public order. 'To criminalize these efforts while turning a blind eye to mass civilian deaths elsewhere is the height of hypocrisy,' he said.
The congressman went further, claiming his father wasn't detained 'in pursuit of justice' but 'because he was perceived as a threat — a leader unwilling to bow to external control.' He warned that 'karma has a long memory' and that institutions that enable impunity today will be judged tomorrow.
The ICC has maintained that its investigations are guided by its mandate under the Rome Statute and based on legal criteria and evidence. The elder Duterte has been detained in The Hague for nearly a year on charges related to crimes against humanity during his administration's bloody drug war, which killed thousands of Filipinos.
Source: Manila Bulletin
