Duterte arrest has affected Alyansa campaign, senatorial bets admit

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. leads his senatorial bets. —Photo by Ruth Abbey Carlos | Philippine News Agency

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines — Several senatorial candidates from the Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas have admitted that former President Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest has had an impact on their campaign, adding that they seek to deescalate tensions and let the International Criminal Court (ICC) fulfill their role.

During a press briefing here on Friday, former Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson doubled down on his call for the government to assist Duterte just like it would extend help to any other Filipino jailed overseas.

READ: PH gov’t must extend assistance to former President Duterte – Lacson 

Duterte was arrested on Tuesday after local authorities helped the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) enforce the arrest order from the ICC.

“I’ll be honest with you. Of course, it has an effect because many supporters of President Duterte, rightly or wrongly, express sentiments in his favor. But for us, instead of helping escalate tensions and divisiveness, it might be better if we help deescalate things,” Lacson said in Filipino.

“It’s already there, and I would suggest that the government, at the very least, show the standard of assistance that they provide to whoever Filipino, fellow Filipino outside the country, who needs help,” he added.

Makati City Mayor Abby Binay also said that it would be untrue if they would claim that they were not affected by the recent events.

“We would be numb if we think we’re not affected by recent events. Many have been criticizing us. Many have been saying that they would not vote for us because we are part of the Alyansa. I think we all want the same thing. We want justice,” she said in Filipino.

Lacson, despite his calls for the government to help Duterte, said that he believed there would also be a need for the government to rejoin ICC.

“This is my personal opinion, […] the International Criminal Court is the global court of the powerless, meaning the court of last resort.  Their general jurisdiction deals with war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity, they are focused on that,” Lacson said.

Meanwhile, former Senate President Vicente Sotto III said the bigger issue for him was if the Senate should have a hand in abolishing treaties that a sitting president could declare void since the congressional body would be responsible for ratifying it in the first place.

“For me, a better issue to discuss is the Supreme Court’s response to our grievance in the Senate, that a treaty taken back by the president should be ratified by the Senate first. Because it is we who ratified for confirmation,” he said.

“We in the Senate, especially when I was a Senate president, believe that if we ratify the treaty and the president wants to pull out from it, we should ratify it again. For me, that’s a better topic to discuss,” he added.

Last Tuesday, after arriving from Hong Kong, Duterte was arrested at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 as local authorities assisted the International Criminal Police Organization in enforcing the ICC arrest order.

The ICC arrest order was issued due to the alleged crimes against humanity during his administration’s war on drugs.