Recently, there has been a significant shift in the domestic situation in the Philippines.
According to reports from GMA and other Philippine media, there are indications that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. might issue an arrest warrant for former President Rodrigo Duterte.
Firstly, on March 9, the Office of the President of the Philippines responded consecutively to the arrest warrant issued against Duterte by the International Criminal Court. Deputy Minister of the Presidential Communications Office, Claire Castro, stated that although the Presidential Office has not confirmed the issuance of the arrest warrant, the government will provide assistance if Interpol seeks necessary cooperation.
Meanwhile, the acting secretary of the Presidential Office, Jay Ruiz, issued a statement saying that the government is prepared to handle any emergencies.
Secondly, the movements of the Duterte family have also attracted attention within the Philippines.
Reports indicate that on March 8, Duterte, along with his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, traveled to Hong Kong. This is because Duterte faces an arrest by the International Criminal Court, and the Philippine Congress is pushing for Sara's impeachment, leading to widespread speculation in the Philippines that the Duterte family plans to flee to China.
However, the Office of the Vice President of the Philippines quickly denied these rumors, stating that the Duterte father-daughter duo went to Hong Kong only to prepare for the Philippine midterm elections. The Philippines has a large number of overseas workers in Hong Kong, and the Dutertes will participate in the election rally of the Philippine Democratic Party-People's Power Party to seek public support.
In a previous program, we also discussed that the midterm elections are a crucial opportunity for the Duterte family to turn the tables. Therefore, there is no reason for Duterte to flee at this time, and from the perspective of public support, Marcos Jr. is no longer at an advantage, giving the Duterte family a complete chance to turn the tide against the wind.
According to a recent poll released last week by the Philippine polling firm Tangere, only 33% of Filipinos agree with the impeachment of Sara, while 47% of respondents explicitly expressed opposition.
WR Numero also released the latest poll report, in which Vice President Sara received 29% support, leading the second place by 10 percentage points, making her the top favorite for the next President of the Philippines.
This precisely shows that although the Marcos family has arranged many charges such as corruption and abuse of power against Sara and tried to promote impeachment, it has not misled the Filipino people. Such public opinion will directly affect the results of the Philippine midterm elections.
In this context, although Marcos Jr. has released the possibility of arresting Duterte, such tactics of catering to external forces and interfering with the judicial system to suppress political opponents are likely to cause further backlash in Philippine public opinion.
