Nearly two weeks ago, I woke to the headline that the former president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, had been taken into police custody and was on his way to the Hague. Accusing him of crimes against humanity over his deadly “war against drugs,” the International Criminal Court had issued a warrant for his arrest. Claiming his actions were intended to protect the people of the Philippines, he sits in a detention cell now awaiting his trial.1
I shuddered as my mind went back to 2016 and the election of this ruthless leader known already for his Death Squad as mayor of Davao. Living and working in Manila at the time, I was stunned by the outcome. Six months later, another strongman had muscled his way into power in the USA, and the Trump regime was underway, too. My disbelief was compounded, but populism was only beginning to gather steam.
In the Philippines, from July 2016, killings were carried out on a daily basis, reaching the tens of thousands over the course of Duterte’s tenure. In effect, his “war on drugs” became a “war against the poor.” The misery of so many families, shattered, suddenly deprived of their breadwinner, and with their children orphaned or abandoned because their parents were in jail, was incomprehensible. New York Times photojournalist, Daniel Berehulak, spent 35 days in the country in December 2016, writing that he “witnessed bloody scenes just about everywhere imaginable” and quoted a bystander afraid to give his name as saying, “They are slaughtering us like animals.”2
RNDMs in Manila join a Movement Against Tyranny demonstration on September 21, 2017,
the anniversary of the 1972 declaration of martial lawwhich began the Marcos dictatorship.
Successive waves of oppression pushed the country closer to the brink of authoritarianism: the attack on democratic institutions supposed to ensure checks and balances; the repression of media critical of the government, such as the widely publicized arrest of Rappler CEO, Maria Ressa; the “red-tagging” of NGOs and religious groups… Sound familiar??
Decades ago, Martin Luther King Jr famously declared,
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
In 2022, Congresswoman Shontel Brown, representative from Ohio, quoted King’s words, observing that
“the arc of the moral universe is anything but. It does not bend towards justice on its own—no, it only does so because people pull it towards justice. It is an active exercise, not a passive one. No one knew this better than Dr. King…”3
In a similar vein, Filipino sociologist Randy David wrote a few days ago,
“No one is above the law. Yet too often, justice requires an extra push to bring powerful figures to account. This past week, the Filipino people witnessed a historic moment: the arrest of a former president—one feared and influential—by Philippine authorities for trial before an international court.”4
A historic moment, indeed.
1 Joel Guinto and Jonathan Head, “Philippines ex-leader Duterte on plane to The Hague after arrest,” BBC News, March 11, 2025, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp9ykn85401o.
2 Daniel Berehulak, “’They Are Slaughtering Us Like Animals,” New York Times, December 7, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/12/07/world/asia/rodrigo-duterte-philippines-drugs-killings.html.
3 Congresswoman Shontel Brown, “The arc of the moral universe will bend toward justice – but only if we pull it,” In The News, January 17, 2022, https://shontelbrown.house.gov/media/in-the-news/arc-moral-universe-will-bend-toward-justice-only-if-we-pull-it.
4 Randy David, “Not Even the President is Above the Law,” Philippine Daily Inquirer, March 16, 2025, https://opinion.inquirer.net/181643/not-even-a-president-is-above-the-law.
Claudia Stecker is a Sister of Our Lady of the Missions (RNDM). She was missioned to the Philippines in 1997 and worked as an educator, first, in Cotabato, at Notre Dame University, and, later, in Manila, at Asian Social Institute. Her subject areas included pastoral sociology, leadership, music and education. Claudia was also employed by Kuya Center for Street Children where she took part in establishing a microfinance initiative among urban poor families. Over the years, Claudia served the congregation, too, in leadership, formation and finance management, returning to Canada in 2021. From 2023, she has been missioned to New York, USA, where she serves as a host community member in a LifeWay Network safehouse for women survivors of human trafficking.
Thank you for this insightful reflection on a horrible chapter of Filipino history. It’s hard to believe it’s even happening. As a headline in the NY Times said: “Duterte is enjoying the due process he denied to his thousands of victims.
Great headline – so apt.