The ICC Hoax and the Marcosian Betrayal: A Satirical Esoteric Rhetorical Inquiry into Sovereignty, Numbers, and the Theater of Justice
The ICC Hoax and the Marcosian Betrayal: A Satirical Esoteric Rhetorical Inquiry into Sovereignty, Numbers, and the Theater of Justice
Amiel Gerald A. Roldan™
February 26, 2026
Introduction: The Theater of Absurdity
Is justice a solemn temple, or a circus tent pitched in The Hague? Is sovereignty a sacred covenant, or a pawnshop receipt handed over by a president eager to cash in political chips? These are not idle questions, dear reader, but the very scaffolding of our national tragedy. For what else can we call the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) case against former president Rodrigo Duterte but an abomination — a grotesque parody of justice, a hoax so horrific it deserves its own genre in the annals of political theater?
And what of Ferdinand Marcos Jr.? Shall history remember him as the son who surpassed his father not in tyranny’s flamboyant brutality but in the cold efficiency of betrayal? Imagine the irony: the dictator’s heir, not content with the legacy of plunder, now perfects the art of surrender — delivering a frail 79-year-old ex-president to foreign jailers, bypassing even the Supreme Court, as if constitutional sovereignty were a mere inconvenience. Is this not ruthlessness refined, cruelty distilled into bureaucratic order?
Act I: The Kidnapping of Sovereignty
Let us begin with the farce of Nicolas Torre, the police official cast as thug in this tragicomedy. Ordered to drag Duterte to the ICC, Torre becomes the stagehand of Marcos’ grand illusion: that sovereignty can be outsourced, that political bases can be dissolved by disappearance. But does disappearance ever truly erase presence? Or does it, perversely, magnify it?
Consider the Palace’s gleeful announcement: two senators, Ronald dela Rosa and Christopher “Bong” Go, will soon join Duterte in the ICC’s cold embrace. Is this governance, or a macabre raffle draw? “Step right up, senators, your turn to be abducted!” Marcos, delighted, counts his political arithmetic: nine senators resisting him reduced to seven. Is democracy now a subtraction exercise, sovereignty a calculator trick?
Act II: The Numbers Game
But let us not be swayed by rhetoric alone. Numbers, those stubborn little creatures, tell their own story. The ICC alleges “widespread extrajudicial killings” — 12,000 to 30,000 deaths between 2016 and 2019. Yet the hard data, compiled by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the Philippine Statistics Authority, refuses to cooperate with this narrative.
- Under Aquino III (2010–2015): homicides ranged from 8,000 to 9,700 annually, trending upward.
- In 2016, Duterte’s first year: a spike to 11,300, consistent with the bloody chaos of an initial crackdown.
- From 2017 onward: homicides plummeted, stabilizing at 4,600–5,500 annually — lower than Aquino-era levels.
So where, pray tell, are the 30,000 corpses? Were morgues secretly expanded into stadiums? Did funeral parlors acquire conveyor belts? Would not the streets have overflowed with cadavers, the headlines screamed of mass burials? Common sense, that most elusive of virtues, whispers: the numbers do not add up.
And yet, the ICC clings to its 43 cases — yes, forty-three! Nineteen in Davao, twenty-four elsewhere. Forty-three deaths elevated to “crimes against humanity.” Is this jurisprudence, or numerology? Should we consult tarot cards next?
Act III: The Hoax Factory
Who manufactures this hoax? The communists, decimated by Duterte, eager for revenge. The Marcos camp, intent on blocking Sara Duterte’s path to the presidency. The United States, fearful of losing its nine military bases should another Duterte rise. And the media — Rappler, Inquirer, Star — weaving tearjerking narratives, amplifying anecdotes into apocalypse.
Is it not curious that the ICC’s arithmetic mirrors propaganda rather than statistics? That “deaths under investigation” and “found dead” are lumped together, motives ignored, double-counted incidents paraded as evidence? Is this scholarship, or creative writing?
Contrast this with the very real 43,700 Covid-19 deaths in 2021, reflected in official statistics. That was carnage, indisputable, documented. But the alleged 30,000 EJKs? A phantom epidemic, conjured by headlines and NGO reports, absent from the national homicide data.
Act IV: Anecdotes and Rhetorical Questions
Ah, anecdotes — the lifeblood of propaganda. A woman hugging her lifeless boyfriend, photographed and splashed across newspapers. Heart-wrenching, yes. But can one anecdote be multiplied into 30,000? If so, why stop there? Why not 300,000? Why not declare Duterte the architect of a genocide rivaling Pol Pot?
And what of cleric Flaviano Villanueva, producing a list of 104 cases, unverified, appealing desperately to relatives for documentation? Is this evidence, or theater? Is the ICC now a confessional booth where grievances become indictments?
Rhetorical question upon rhetorical question piles up:
- If Duterte’s war was truly a crime against humanity, why do the homicide numbers show decline?
- If sovereignty means anything, why is a Filipino president judged by foreign magistrates?
- If justice is blind, why does it squint so hard at anecdotes while ignoring statistics?
- And if Marcos believes this betrayal will weaken Duterte’s base, has he forgotten that martyrdom often strengthens movements?
Act V: Sovereignty as Satire
Sovereignty, once a sacred word, now becomes a punchline. Marcos orders Duterte’s kidnapping, delivering him to The Hague as if sovereignty were a parcel to be shipped. The ICC, with its dogma of “guilty until proven innocent,” prepares to keep Duterte in jail for 7 to 10 years before issuing judgment. Is this justice, or Kafka’s unfinished novel performed live?
And what of Sara Duterte, the daughter poised for 2028? Marcos imagines her weakened, her father’s influence dismantled. But what if Duterte dies in prison? Will not his funeral cortege engulf Malacañang, a mammoth demonstration of rage? Is Marcos playing chess, or Russian roulette?
Act VI: The American Puppeteer
Behind the curtain, the United States smiles. Having subdued Duterte, it ensures no future president dares break free from vassalage. Sovereignty becomes theater, justice becomes puppetry. The ICC, ostensibly independent, becomes the stage where American strategists rehearse their geopolitical scripts.
Is this not the ultimate irony? That a court meant to prosecute crimes against humanity becomes itself a tool of imperial manipulation? That justice, in the name of humanity, tramples the sovereignty of nations?
Conclusion: The Hoax Unmasked
In the end, what remains? A frail ex-president languishing in a foreign cell. Senators threatened with abduction. Sovereignty mocked. Numbers distorted. Anecdotes weaponized. And a nation asked to believe in a carnage that statistics refuse to confirm.
The ICC case against Duterte is not justice but theater — a grotesque hoax, an abomination. Marcos Jr., in his betrayal, surpasses his father not in flamboyant tyranny but in cold surrender. And the United States, ever the puppeteer, ensures the Philippines remains a stage for its imperial drama.
So let us ask, one final rhetorical question: If justice is truly blind, why does it always seem to wear American spectacles?
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A multidisciplinary Filipino artist, poet, researcher, and cultural worker whose practice spans painting, printmaking, photography, installation, and writing. He is deeply rooted in cultural memory, postcolonial critique, and in bridging creative practice with scholarly infrastructure—building counter-archives, annotating speculative poetry like Southeast Asian manuscripts, and fostering regional solidarity through ethical art collaboration.
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