Former president Rodrigo Duterte was finally shown in a video for his attendance at the preliminary hearing at the Hague.
Draped in a suit, he answered minimal questions ranging from his name to where he hails from.
Duterte looks meek as a lamb, a far cry from what he was when he was the country’s Chief executive—stealthy, strong-willed, and powerful.
The Duterte at The Hague was a picture of a worrisome state. He looks sick and weak. Gone was his i-don’t-care demeanor. Gone, too, we’re his “walang takot” stance.
All the public saw was a Duterte bereft of “tapang” and “angas.”
What Duterte was reduced to was a powerless man, a visible loser any which way we saw him.
His trademark gangster-like mien is obviously missing. His bravado was nowhere in sight.
Duterte had it coming. Recall that a few months ago, in a congressional hearing, he dared the ICC to come and arrest him.
And the ICC did with the help of the Interpol and the rest is history.
Notoriously known for spewing expletives, Duterte seems to have bitten his tongue as he was unusually quiet throughout the proceedings in Hague.
A loquacious guy, his lips were unusually sealed this time.
Now, Duterte supporters were asking fellow Filipinos to pray for the former president. They conveniently forgot that Duterte once cursed God, calling Him stupid.
Duterte fanatics now cry for due process, not thinking about the EJK victims not receiving what they were asking for now.
Duterte’s incarceration in The Hague is like a bomb waiting to explode.
And when it did, his supporters will also perish as they all believe that their idol is a God.
