Jose Maria Legacy Foundation statement on Rodrigo Duterte’s ICC case and the asylum application of Harry Roque
Like many of our overseas kababayan, the team at the Jose Maria Sison Legacy Foundation (JMSLF) has been closely observing the developments in the arrest of former Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The arrest of the first Asian head of state and his subsequent transport to The Hague is the first step towards the long-awaited justice for the many victims of his bloody regime, that Jose Maria Sison (JMS) once described as “a malignant one characterized by treason, tyranny, butchery, corruption and deception.”
We have also noted the parallels that have been made regarding the asylum application of Harry Roque to the Netherlands and JMS’ own asylum application upon the cancellation of his passport by then-President Cory Aquino in 1988. While Roque and JMS both availed of the option to apply for asylum, a legitimate avenue open to individuals asserting their right to seek safety from political persecution and serious harm, the similarities end there.
JMS, like many legitimate political asylum seekers, did not leave his home country willingly. In fact, he never stopped yearning to return home as he has expressed in his poem Sometimes the Heart Yearns for Mangoes. In 1988, The Cory Aquino regime cancelled his passport while he was out of the country. This effectively forced him into exile. He was never granted asylum, though he was a recognized refugee by virtue of Article 3 on the European Convention on Human Rights. This meant that he was not allowed to have a source income and could not even enjoy the welfare benefits meant to keep Dutch citizens from unbearable poverty. He therefore had no choice but to live a frugal lifestyle in a working class neighborhood, contrary to the lies spread by reactionary propaganda.
Being in a different country also did not keep him safe from political persecution from counter-revolutionary renegades and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines, under the direction of the United States. Aside from having his refugee applications rejected and his assets frozen multiple times without due process, he was also the target of a failed assassination plot in 2000, he suffered police raids and arrest on false charges, and he was hounded with terrorist tagging.1
Roque, on the other hand, is free to travel wherever he wants and even left the Philippines while under investigation for numerous charges, including human trafficking. His application for asylum status in the Netherlands is merely an attempt to sabotage said investigation. This misuse of the fundamental right of asylum is not only an attempt to evade accountability for the crimes for which he is currently under investigation, but also a grave disservice to the many refugees and asylum seekers who fled the climate of violence, extrajudicial killings, and impunity for which he was the main mouthpiece as former Presidential spokesperson for Duterte.
JMS strongly denounced Duterte’s mass murder of the poor and his malicious framing of his so-called ‘war on drugs’ “to cause the mass intimidation of the people in a scheme of state terrorism.” The asylum case of Roque, principal “Tokhang cheerleader” who once described Duterte’s reign of greed and terror as “awesome,” is a profound injustice to all those who lost their lives to the bloody regime that Roque so gleefully promoted, and to all legitimate seekers of safety from political persecution.
The focus of public attention should be directed at those who are at the center of the crimes against humanity case being brought against Duterte at the ICC: those victims and the families, friends, and loved ones who survive them. The drama, distractions, and disinformation being peddled by the Duterte camp must not be allowed to take precedence over the calls for justice and accountability for the many victims of Duterte’s crimes.
Signed, Julieta de Lima
On behalf of the Jose Maria Legacy Foundation
- You can read more about JMS’ life story through his biography, which the JMSLF, as part of its mission to share JMS’ life and works, has made available on the website. ↩︎
For more information on the campaign for justice and accountability for the victims of Duterte’s crimes against humanity:
JMS on Duterte
- Please keep an eye out for the upcoming Sison Reader Series compiling JMS’ writings during the Duterte regime (coming out May 2025)
- On Duterte’s Order to “Kill Them All” and the Consequent Sunday Massacre (Mar 9, 2021)
- On the Duterte Legacy (Feb 1, 2020)
- Duterte’s Anti-People Achievements For His Reign of Greed and Terror (Jun 30, 2019)