China has taught Harry Roque well. In the years when he served Rodrigo Duterte as his spokesman, Roque mastered what China does best regarding strategic communications.
Roque has learned the art of deception and disinformation. And he has done really well.
Lately, Roque hogged the headlines with his fantastic tales that The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) is about to serve an arrest warrant against the former president, Rodrigo Duterte, for crimes against humanity.
Does Roque have a basis for saying anything about Duterte’s impending arrest?
For Duterte’s supporters, that is alarming news. It could be a call to action to defend and protect the former president from an arrest.
Unfortunately, Roque was merely speculating. It could be false information. The information could be made up to stir public support for the former president.
It is no secret that Duterte and the sitting president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., are not on good terms. Both have traded accusations of drug use.
There were even wild rumors that Duterte was plotting with ex-generals to oust Marcos from power and for his daughter to move up to the presidency.
Roque said the source of his incredible information about the ICC arrest was Duterte himself, after the ex-president supposedly called him up to tell him about the arrest warrant.
But Duterte did not tell him where he got his information, and a lawyer like Roque could have asked Duterte, who is another lawyer, where he got his information.
Lawyers, just like journalists, do not believe in hearsay. Information is verified, validated, and checked not just twice, but many times to make sure the information is accurate.
Another Duterte fanatic, Salvador Panelo, also a lawyer, disputed Roque’s information.
He said he also called up Duterte to ask if Roque’s claims were true.
Panelo said Duterte told him he had not spoken to Roque about the ICC and the arrest warrant.
Panelo thus concluded that Roque was spreading false news about the ICC arrest warrant.
Was Roque lying? Was Panelo correct? The answer doesn’t matter.
Roque had made his point. Whether his information was true or not, the news media believed him, and the public was alarmed.
He may have deceived the public. He was able to spread disinformation. However, Roque did not stop there.
He followed his false information with another falsehood about the military plans to disband Task Force Davao.
The Army unit was set up to protect Davao from both the Communist and Muslim guerrillas.
Task Force Davao, according to Roque, was fiercely loyal to Duterte as if the Army unit served as the former leader’s praetorian guards.
And when the Armed Forces chief of staff, Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., was in the Davao region for a command visit, Roque speculated that the Task Force was about to be disbanded so that no loyal military unit would interfere in case law enforcement agencies served the arrest warrant.
Roque’s information is false. No less than the chief of staff General Brawner denied the report about the break up of Task Force Davao.
Brawner said the military would, in fact, beef up the task force as the concentration of New People’s Army guerrillas was in the Davao region.
Ignoring Brawner’s denial, Roque made another fantastic tale about the ICC arrest warrant.
Quoting Duterte, Roque said the ex-president had vowed to resist arrest and would not allow himself to be taken alive by the ICC.
No one really knows if there is already an arrest warrant issued by the ICC trial chamber. Normally, the arrest warrant is kept secret.
The only time an arrest warrant was announced was in the case of Russian leader Vladimir Putin because it was impossible to enforce his arrest.
A lawyer assisting the ICC in prosecuting Duterte said an arrest warrant may soon be issued once the investigation on the war on drugs is completed.
The first leg of the investigation, the preliminary examination, was completed in 2021.
In the second phase, the prosecutors started gathering evidence, talking to witnesses, and collating speeches made by Duterte when he was in power.
Duterte and Roque would just be surprised if local law enforcement agents came knocking at the ex-president’s door showing him the ICC arrest warrant.
Although President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his justice secretary, Jesus Crispin Remulla, have been saying the Philippines would not cooperate with the ICC, they could change their minds because the government has an obligation to help and assist an international organization.
Besides, the Supreme Court has ruled that the government cannot escape its obligation to help the ICC when assistance is requested.
It is clear the cases against Duterte involved actions that happened when the Philippines was still a member of the Rome Statute from 2011 to 2019.
The ICC will only come to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity if the government is unwilling to prosecute or fails to prosecute Duterte.
Not one case was brought against Duterte in the War on Illegal Drugs campaign from 2016 to 2019.
There could also be tremendous public pressure to cooperate with the ICC after a recent Social Weather Station opinion poll that showed growing public support for the ICC investigation into the drug war.
Bad news for Harry Roque. This means he has to double his efforts to spew propaganda and false narratives to sway public opinion against the drug war investigation.
He has to exert extra efforts to make Duterte look invincible and strong to resist the ICC.
When the arrest warrant is finally served, Duterte could be whisked away like a meek lamb.