Close friends and political allies during the elections of 2022, running even under the Unity Team, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos and Vice President Sara Duterte are now as distant from each other as can be.
Those who still believe that the falling out between the nation's two highest officials can still be repaired lost all hopes when Bongbong, on the pretext of honoring the country's commitment to the International Police Organization (Interpol), actually handed over former President Rodrigo "Digong" Duterte to the International Criminal Court (ICC) which had issued a warrant of arrest against the former president.
Bongbong and Inday Sara earlier parted ways and their warm relations turned tepid, cold, and later incendiary, with her father, Digong Duterte, providing the usual jabs.
Come early March, the nation was just waiting for the inevitable, which is the coming to a head of such political rivalry.
Back from Hongkong
And the event occurred during the Ides of March, 2025 when Duterte, his daughter Veronica (Kitty) and several companions came back from a trip to Hongkong. They were met at the airport by a phalanx of policemen, led to the nearby Villamor Air Base and detained for 17 hours on the strength of an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, where Duterte is facing charges of crimes against humanity.
The cops were headed by Maj. Gen. Nicolas Torre, of the Quiboloy heartbeat operations fame in Davao, and now chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group. It was the birthday of Torre that day, March 11.
The charges, of course, stemmed from reports that thousands of Filipinos when he was mayor of Davao City and later, President, in connection with the war on drugs.
Legal experts pointed out that there were violations of local laws and ICC rules made by the police and the military during the arrest. While this claim is still to be validated, the fact that the government bundled Duterte, and shoved him in a chartered plane to The Hague to face trial, did not sit well with many Filipinos and foreign observers.
The Dutertes are not surprised with this move from a former friend, although they had expected that President Bongbong would have had the good sense to look kindly at the only president who effected his father's burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
But well, politics is essentially about power and emotions can easily be thrown to the wind, here in the Philippines and anywhere in the world, and in whatever age, be it the Ides of March in 44 B.C. or the same corresponding date in 2025.
The Ides of March
Since the assassination of Julius Caesar at a session of the Senate in Rome in 44 B.C., coinciding with the Ides of March, these middle days in the month of March have become the global symbol of betrayal, ambition and greed.
We note two accounts of Caesar's death, one historical (Plutarch) and another, literary (Shakespeare). History says as many as 60 conspirators were involved, led by Brutus and Cassius. Plutarch said a seer had warned that harm would come to Caesar on the Ides of March (corresponding to March 15, 44 B.C. on the Gregorian calendar.)
Wikipedia writes: "On his way to the Theatre of Pompey, Caesar passed the seer and joked, "Well, the Ides of March are come", implying that the prophecy had not been fulfilled, to which the seer replied, "Aye, they are come, but they are not gone."
This meeting is dramatized for posterity in William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, when Caesar is warned by the soothsayer to "beware the Ides of March."
Upon seeing his friend Brutus with the knife, Caesar said, "Et tu, Brute?" The utterance expresses Caesar's shock and betrayal at being stabbed by Brutus, his long-time friend.
This historically famous assassination came to mind today because the Ides of March are once more with us, only this time it is 2,069 years after Caesar's ignominious murder. And it is strictly not a physical slay, but a political one, with ultimate power over the state now and in the near future as the much-coveted price.
Trial at the ICC
As Duterte stands trial before the three foreign judges at the ICC, the nation that he left behind remains divided, arguing incessantly about the legality and morality of his arrest.
It would take more than the space available here to report both sides of the argument, but since Filipinos are internet addicts, anyone interested in politics can just browse the social media platforms on the ongoing debate.
With Duterte temporarily detained inside a prison in The Netherlands, Bongbong and Liza and Martin should not be complacent and believe that their problems have been solved. Actually, they are just beginning, as we note and see the restiveness of the masses in key cities in the South and even in Metro Manila.
#WeTakeAStand #OpinYon #OpinYonNews #OpinYonCoverStory