Palace: Reconciliation must have no conditions
Credit to Author: Helen Flores| Date: Thu, 22 May 2025 00:00:00 +0800
MANILA, Philippines — While voicing his openness to reconciling with his political foes including the Duterte family, President Marcos won’t let them set conditions for accepting his offer, Malacañang made clear yesterday.
“Yes, because this is for the people and the country,” Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said when asked to clarify if Marcos has not attached conditions to his reconciliation overtures.
Castro also said the President will definitely not reconcile with his political opponents at the expense of the law.
She was reacting to pronouncements from former presidential spokesman Harry Roque and former chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo that reconciliation would only be possible if Marcos takes steps to bring former president Rodrigo Duterte back to the country.
Sen. Bong Go also said Marcos should ensure Duterte’s return to the country if he really is sincere in his offer of reconciliation.
“I am requesting that if you are sincere, bring back Tatay Digong here,” Go said in a chance interview yesterday.
“If you were able to send (away) Tatay Digong within 14 hours, you can bring him back as soon as possible,” Go said. “He sacrificed everything, but you only sent him to The Hague.”
He clarified that he is not speaking on behalf of the Dutertes and that his “personal thought is sincerity is important and the first action here is to bring Tatay Digong home.”
At a briefing, Castro emphasized the President cannot be manipulated. “Bear in mind, the President cannot be held by the neck and dictated upon to do wrong. He will not turn his back on the law or twist it just to serve the personal interests of a few,” Castro said in Filipino.
“So let’s put this in mind – the President is always on the side of the law. Friend or law? The President will always choose the law,” she added.
The former president is in detention in The Hague awaiting trial for crimes against humanity over the thousands of deaths tied to his war on drugs.
In a podcast uploaded on social media on Monday, Marcos said the impeachment trial of Duterte’s daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, is up to the Senate.
Castro reiterated that Marcos’ offer of reconciliation was not only for the Dutertes but for all his political opponents, and that he was doing it as the “father of the nation.”
She pointed out that the President wants to maintain political stability and a peaceful environment so that his administration can focus on delivering public service.
“I’m saying this again. What the President has been telling everyone is he wants reconciliation for the sake of stability, so that the government can do what needs to be done and keep its tasks from getting derailed,” Castro said.
In an interview with One News, Panelo said the peace offering of Marcos would only be acceptable if Duterte is returned to the Philippines.
“That’s a welcome sign,” he said of Marcos’ offer. “In fact, about two months ago, a mutual friend approached me on the matter. He is a high ranking official of the government. He said he was concerned with what is happening… ‘is it possible for reconciliation between PBBM (Marcos) and PRRD (Duterte)?’ I told him, why not,” Panelo said, without identifying the official.
“That’s possible but I told him, if you reconcile, bring home president Duterte to show the sincerity of the President. That was two months ago. In other words, as early as two months ago, there were already feelers,” Panelo said.
“I welcome that. You know if we fail to settle this, believe me, we will have déjà vu, equivalent to the magnitude of Edsa 1 and Edsa 2,” Panelo added.
He maintained that the government has the power to allow the return of Duterte.
“That (return of Duterte) is easy. We are the government,” he said, citing what he called “precedents.”
“One was in Italy where the ICC requested the Italian government to arrest someone accused of crime against humanity who happens to be a foreign national so it arrested that person… They nullified the arrest and (that person) was returned to the foreign country of origin,” he said.
“In other words, even the ICC told them to arrest that person, when it discovered there was an irregularity in arresting that person, they did not agree,” he pointed out.
“The government of Italy said, ‘we are a sovereign country, nobody can dictate on us,’” Panelo added.
He said that the court has the power to compel the Marcos administration to correct the legal error in the arrest of Duterte.
“Given the fact that the ICC has no jurisdiction even if you look at the Rome Statute or extradition law in the country, they really violate the law,” he said.
But Vice President Sara Duterte has acknowledged the possibility that her father may no longer be able to return to the country.
“That theory of VP Sara was the theory of many lawyers, to which I disagree,” Panelo said.
“The only way by which you can make a closure to that particular issue, is to bring home (former president Duterte) first so that you can prove that you are willing to reconcile,” he added.
At the same time, Panelo expressed belief the senators will vote for the dismissal of the impeachment case against the Vice President.
“In other words, the impeachment case will not prosper, assuming it will proceed. The senators will not risk their political careers if they know that the people do not favor the impeachment. They will vote to acquit. It is not true that the (senator) judges will be voting on the basis of evidence. That’s nonsense. This is a game or contest of numbers,” he stressed.
Panelo said the goal of the administration from the very beginning is to destroy her chances of winning the 2028 presidential elections.
Meanwhile, pre-trial judges of the ICC have granted the request of prosecution to extend the deadline for the disclosure of the remaining evidence cited in the earlier request for an arrest warrant against the former president.
In a five-page decision, the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I gave the prosecution until July 1 to disclose arrest warrant materials related to several undisclosed witnesses.
It was the same deadline earlier set by the chamber for the disclosure of all evidence that the prosecution intends to rely on during Duterte’s confirmation of charges hearing on Sept. 23.
During Duterte’s first appearance hearing on March 14, ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I Presiding Judge Iulia Motoc gave the prosecutor until March 21 to disclose to the defense information related to the request for the arrest warrant.
An initial 181 items were disclosed to Duterte’s defense team before that deadline, with the prosecution asking for more time to give some witnesses more time to assess their safety and security. The deadline was initially extended to May 9.
In its latest filing, the prosecutor said there was “good cause” to further extend the disclosure deadline of the arrest warrant materials of some of the witnesses, noting that “the immediate disclosure of their identities would give rise to an objective risk to their safety.”
Amid frenetic effort by supporters of the former president to make him return to the Philippines, his chances of assuming his old post as mayor of Davao City – after his overwhelming election victory.
While he can theoretically take his oath of office outside the country, it would be difficult for Duterte to assume Davao City’s mayoralty post beginning June 30 as it would require his physical presence at the capitol, lawyer Antonio La Viña said in an interview with “Storycon” on One News.
“You will be the one to sign documents, ordinances, appointments. You cannot do that outside the office,” La Viña said in Filipino.
He said the former president taking his oath as mayor is “theoretically” possible as he may be brought to the Philippine embassy in the Netherlands where he can be sworn in before any authorized official, including the country’s ambassador or even his daughter the Vice President.
But still, Duterte will need to secure the approval of the Philippine government for him to be allowed in the embassy premises and of the ICC, for him to be allowed to leave his detention facility.
“For the oathtaking, it has to be on Philippine soil. It has to be in the Philippine embassy, not the ICC,” said La Viña.
He said it will set a “very bad precedent” if the Marcos administration allows Duterte to take his oath.
Under the omnibus election code, the “office of any official elected who fails or refuses to take his oath of office within six months from his proclamation shall be considered vacant, unless said failure is for a cause or causes beyond his control.” – Bella Cariaso, Janvic Mateo