REJOINING the International Criminal Court (ICC) that we had withdrawn from in 2017 is by far the most illogical proposal I have ever heard in my career as a journalist in this country. It really doesn’t take much study to find out that such a move will hurt our country, even our economy, and yield zero benefits — if you know what the ICC is.

We joined the ICC in 2011 when this country was ruled by the self-righteous, sanctimonious Yellow cabal, which would have made the Philippines a member of the We Are the Global Guardians of Goodness Club, if there was such an institution. Among the lobby groups that pushed for it were organizations linked with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), which has, since its founding in the 1960s, used “human rights” as an issue to criticize government.

Answer the following questions, and your head will spin as to why this is even an issue to hog headlines.

First question: Would you like the Philippines to be mentioned in the same breath as Afghanistan, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Ivory Coast, Darfur, Sudan, the Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Palestine?

Those are the countries where the ICC has undertaken or is currently undertaking allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity purportedly committed by their former leaders. If we rejoin the ICC, the absurd, baseless case filed by then opposition senator Antonio Trillanes 4th against then President Duterte and his administration that thousands were killed in his “war vs illegal drugs” will be resuscitated and investigated. The Philippines will be put on that list of countries barely out of the Stone Age, where human life is not valued.

I’M beginning to suspect that it’s not the usual or obvious suspects who could be plotting to oust President Marcos Jr. Indeed, former president Rodrigo Duterte seemed to know something when he said on his radio program: “Be wary of the military.”

My suspects would be Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, his colleagues in that chamber Risa Hontiveros, Jinggoy Estrada and recently Francis Tolentino, together with Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., Armed Forces Chief of Staff Romeo Brawner and National Security Adviser Eduardo Año.

Why do I say they are making moves that would oust Marcos?

THERE certainly have been genocides even in humanity’s recent history, the most horrible being the massacre of 1.4 million Cambodians by the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979.

But the genocide being committed by Israel against Palestinians in Gaza — 11,000 so far killed, including at least 5,000 children and most probably another 10,000 buried in the rubble of buildings destroyed by US-made and paid-for bombs — tests our very humanity.

Because of technology, we are witnesses to the daily massacre of civilians since October 8 by the arrogant Jewish state demanding collective punishment of 2 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip for Hamas’ atrocity in killing 1,200 Israeli civilians, and taking 240 hostages.

Every day, we see the limp, bloodied bodies of dead children, we see them crying out in pain and terror dealt by US bombs, and recently, we were shocked witnesses to a horrifying scene of 36 infants who had to be taken out of incubators because the hospital no longer has power to run the machines, and therefore left to die on a table.

It is a disgrace that most of mainstream media in our country have chosen to ignore this genocide with some, based on their choices of articles, cheering on the Israelis in their massacre of Palestinians. This is another testament to the hold of the US on our media.

I COULDN’T believe my ears when my friend who is a resident of the wealthy enclave told me that. Even the rich can’t be safe in their own houses, in an expensively secured subdivision?

While it wasn’t reported on the village’s association website nor in its Facebook page, the Philippine Daily Inquirer did report it, first on October 31 (“6 Chinese abducted in Muntinlupa”) and then on November 1 (“6 abducted Chinese still missing”) — although it was strange the headlines didn’t say “Alabang,” which they knew would have caught more attention. Several tabloids also reported it.

I suspect the kidnapping would have been kept under wraps by the Philippine National Police (PNP) and a section of media that it has compromised. It was not the Manila-based reporters who filed the report but a correspondent in Lucena City.

US officials are so fond of claiming that their country and the West stand for a rules-based international order — but one only they can correctly interpret.

Israel’s horrible war against Hamas certainly exposes the fact that the US is exempted from following such rules-based order — remember its Afghanistan and Iraq wars, among others?

So is the tiny Israel, which could not have grown to be a superpower in the Middle East if not for the $159 billion that the US has given it since its creation in 1946 to 2023. As that figure is not adjusted for inflation, it is bigger than the $173 billion US Marshall Plan that helped Europe recover from the ashes of World War 2. Indeed, the US defense industry has had a steady market for its weapons, with the American Congress having allocated since 1948 $3.3 billion yearly in military aid to Israel.