‘Beware the Ides of March’
Although every month has an “Ides,” the “Ides of March” reverberates in history and literature. It has been associated with misfortune, not unlike Friday the 13th, I suppose. Matunog.
The “Ides of March,” a day in the ancient Roman calendar that falls on March 15, was immortalized in the tragedy Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare. In the play, a soothsayer warns Caesar to “beware the Ides of March,” a day when Caesar eventually suffered the most painful betrayal.
I remember going over the play Julius Caesar with my freshmen students at the Assumption Convent high school many moons ago, and impressing upon them the drama of politics, triumph and betrayal.
The term “Ides” comes from the Latin word iduare (Latin: “to divide”), with the full moon serving as the division point in the middle of each month, according to online sources.
The “Ides of March,” which technically isn’t till tomorrow, always means payday too, so it can’t all be that bad.
But the days leading up to the “Ides of March” 2025 saw a turnaround in the fortunes of the man who was once the most powerful in the Philippines in every sense of the word.
The alleged extra-judicial killings in the name of Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs (numbered officially at 6,000 though sources say the toll could be as high as 12,000 to 30,000) are staggering.
I remember meeting him in 2016 when he visited The STAR office, then in Port Area, before the elections that swept him into the presidency by a landslide. Hundreds from the dry goods market across the street and all other offices nearby came out in droves and waited in front of The STAR to see the man they called “Tatay Digong.” Reminded me of when Maine Mendoza visited The STAR.
When asked ahead of time what he wanted for lunch, Duterte requested fried danggit and monggo, which he ate with gusto at the conference room.
During the press con that followed, Duterte would curse and swear and each time he said p..t.. i..a and s...t, the audience would laugh in amusement, even cheer. At that time, I thought it was not funny. Still don’t find it funny, but you could see how his rough and tough-talking demeanor and coarse language endeared him to many — at the time.
I looked at my notes of the press conference, and this statement of his struck me:
“I cannot give due process to everybody.”
He also said that after his presidency — if elected — he would become a monk. “Or teach.”
Duterte won the elections.
Then the front pages were filled with news and photos of the alleged EJKs and the grieving relatives; the intimidation of journalists; the withdrawal of the Philippines from the International Criminal Court (ICC), the arrest of Sen. Leila de Lima, and the pandemic.
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Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte won the 2022 presidential and vice presidential elections, respectively, as the flag bearers of the UniTeam, also by a landslide. Sara garnered more votes than BBM, and for a time, they both seemed united. “For a time” is the operative phrase.
The cracks became fissures, and then chasms.
Leila de Lima was acquitted of all drug-related charges that landed her in detention for seven years.
And then came the “Ides of March.”
Duterte was arrested by authorities for “crimes against humanity” on Tuesday, March 11. The 79-year-old former president was taken into custody at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport shortly after stepping off a plane following a visit to Hong Kong. He was flown Tuesday night, reportedly on a Gulfstream G550, to The Hague in The Netherlands, home of the ICC.
According to published reports, the Philippine government enforced an ICC warrant coursed through the Interpol.
Philippine National Police chief Gen. Rommel Marbil and PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group director Maj. Gen. Nicolas Torre led more than 300 police officers in carrying out the arrest at the NAIA Terminal 3 Tuesday morning. The former president and Davao mayor was brought to Villamor Air Base and by 11 p.m., was en route to The Hague, with a refueling stop in Dubai.
“The arrest that we did today was in compliance with our commitment with Interpol,” President Marcos said. “It just so happened that it came from the ICC, but it was not because it came from the ICC.”
“It’s a historic day,” Leila de Lima said in a television interview a day after the arrest.
“I am singing Alleluia in Lent,” said Fr. Flavie Villanueva, a staunch critic of Duterte’s war on drugs and alleged extra-judicial-killings during his administration.
Rodrigo Duterte’s story continues to unfold.
The ICC, Interpol and the Marcos government stand to benefit from their collab. All three entities were thus able to show their teeth in fulfilling their mandates.
Though it took an international court to issue a warrant for the arrest of a man alleged to have committed crimes against humanity, the arrest sends a strong message to all present and future generations of leaders.
No one is truly above the law. *
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