BY: GILBERT PILAYRE
The Road to Justice and Accountability: A Journey to The Hague – Duterte Panagutin!
My phone rang at three in the morning. Juliet baked us some cake the night before so we can have something to go with the coffee. Took a quick shower and had my first load of calories right after. Our flight was at 5:50 in the morning. Then my phone rang again, and it was the taxi driver. He said he’d be late for two minutes and didn’t explain further. It was still a bit early so he must have overslept. Then it arrived. We put our luggage in the compartment and off we went. I’ve been familiar with this route having worked at the airport years ago after arriving in this country. The ride went smoothly. Our destination was Brussels, Belgium but our target was The Hague in the Netherlands.
Upon arrival at Charleroi Airport, we took a bus going to the Netherlands. The distance was at least over 200 kilometers and a travel time of more or less three hours. The sun was out. We passed swiftly through the city of Brussels, Mechelen, Antwerp, and Rotterdam before finally coming to a stop at Den Haag Centraal. The sun was still up but one can feel the temperature sinking. So, I did not dare remove my overcoat. We were met by a long-time friend who once visited us in Vienna a few years ago along with his family. He told me all of them were already married and he is a grandad. His wife passed away a few months ago. We were famished. There was not a morsel of food we took after early that day. So, we dropped by at a fast-food restaurant and ate to appease that hunger.
We took a tram to our designated accommodation. Unlike in Vienna where we pay for our tickets, there, you only must tap the validator upon entering and tap again after dismounting. That way your card will not be charged further. Upon claiming our room card keys, we went straight to our room. We were informed ahead who were our roommates. We were four all in all. One was a friend already. The other was a new-found one. After putting our luggage, we went down to the lobby again on our way to Utrecht where the JMS museum can be found. The travel was just an easy half an hour by train. One can easily see the difference of the place by the presence of canals and bicycles of which Holland is known for.
Holland is also known for great Filipino revolutionaries who took refuge in the country after being persecuted by its own government. Many Dutch people understood the issue, and many become sympathetic, especially the youth. Their sympathy could surprise you. Many of them have been to the Philippines already and saw the social conditions there, where poverty almost always stripped away people’s humanity. They stick to their leaders like hostages with Stockholm Syndrome. These Dutch youth truly understand, and they want to help. Their integration with their Pinoy friends drove deep into their beings. They can easily switch from English to Tagalog whenever they feel they can tap you. I had a short conversation with one named Paul who was tasked as one of the marshals. When a police car arrived, the guy immediately went to clear things up.
A heads up was circulated around that we were not given police permit to use the ICC grounds since the DDS were given the permit first. Our leaders promised not to cause any untoward incident, but the police were firm knowing we were opposites on the issue. Instead, we were given the square in front of the International Court of Justice. It may not be quite fitting since ICJ is for disputes between States like our issue against China on the West Philippine Sea in 2016.
The dispute’s core issue is China’s claim of sovereignty over nearly the entire South China Sea, represented by its “nine-dash line.” This claim overlaps significantly with the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which grants a coastal state sovereign rights to resources within 200 nautical miles of its coast. A key development in this dispute was the 2016 ruling by an international arbitral tribunal in The Hague. The tribunal ruled in favor of the Philippines, declaring China’s nine-dash line claim to be legally invalid and affirming the Philippines’ sovereign rights. China, however, has rejected this ruling and continues to assert its presence in the disputed waters through its coast guard, fishing fleet, and the construction of artificial islands, leading to frequent standoffs with the Philippine government and its fishermen.
I must admit that I rooted for Duterte in 2016. But when the killings started, I changed my mind and joined those who condemned his actions. That is what we are supposed to do when confronted with the “untruth.” No compromise with those who opted for split-level Christianity where a person maintains two separate, often contradictory levels of belief and behavior that rarely interact with each other. That is basically hypocrisy! I repeat: HYPOCRISY!
Part of the crowd were relatives of the victims of Duterte’s war on drugs who spoke about how their loved ones were murdered by his regime. Participants were given pictures of victims and asked to read the names aloud. Then in unison everybody cries “Justice!”
One youth activist from UK got my attention. He said they didn’t wish to go abroad, but they were pushed away by a heartless system that keeps people in perpetual poverty. Obviously, the corruption about flood control was just tip of the iceberg. There are more issues like health, education, decent jobs, etc.
The Duterte family is just one of the many manifestations of Bureaucrat Capitalism. Government officials use their public power to line their pockets. To them, public service is just the same as any business. In the end, no public service is delivered to the people, and the poverty goes on and on. For example, the Duterte administration borrowed 1.2 billion dollars (about 58.4 billion pesos) from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and the Asian Investment Bank to procure COVID-19 vaccines. In March 2021, the Duterte Administration received 28.5 million doses from the US through the COVAX Facility. China also donated 600,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines. Germany also donated 1.6 million doses of AstraZeneca. Yet, the Commission on Audit found significant deficiencies in the handling and accounting of those funds.
That probably is one of the reasons individuals linked to the regime can afford junkets and luxurious lifestyles here and abroad. The International Court of Justice provides legal assistance for defendants who cannot afford their own legal representation. But proof is necessary. That means their bank accounts must be open for scrutiny. Well, obviously that’s off the table. So, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to deduce that he is being fleeced by his own defense lawyer.
After the rally, we took the tram back to our accommodation, and I thought about the journey—from the sun rising over the flatlands of Belgium to the sinking temperature in The Hague. That sinking feeling wasn’t just the cold; it was the chilling reality of how a powerful few could use a nation’s resources for personal gain, leaving ordinary people to suffer. The young activists and the victims’ families had a fire that warmed the crowd and pushed back against that chill. As I put on my coat and prepared for the journey back, I knew that even though the rallies would end, the fight for accountability and justice, both in the Philippines and at the ICC, was just beginning.
– Gilbert C. Pilayre, The Hague (September 23, 2025)
