The Kabataan Party-list condemned Sen. Imee Marcos for holding and leading a Senate hearing on March 20 regarding the arrest and detention of Rodrigo Duterte by the International Criminal Court (ICC). It was clear in the hearing that she opposed Duterte’s detention in the ICC in The Hague. Like the Dutertes, she cited the arrest as a violation of the country’s sovereignty.

Duterte was arrested on March 11 and flown to The Hague in the Netherlands to hold him accountable for his crimes against humanity of murder, in his war on drugs. He first appeared in court on March 14 and is expected to appear again on September 23.

According to the youth party, many of Senator Marcos’ statements in the hearing were inappropriate. The party’s spokesperson and first nominee Atty. Rene Co said “accountability has no nationality.” He told the senator to “stop hiding behind false Pinoy pride and made-up respect for Philippine courts!”

Attorney Co said, “the Marcoses also disrespected the courts to avoid accountability for the ill-gotten wealth they stole.” Senator Marcos is the daughter of dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr who amassed billions of pesos from corruption and oppression of Filipinos under decades of military rule. She is the older sister of the current president.

“Surrendered to foreigners? Rodrigo Duterte himself also surrendered to China to escape his accountability for the Filipinos he killed. He was even humiliated when he was turned away by his foreign master,” the youth leader said. Co is referring to the rumors that Duterte requested asylum from China when he learned that the ICC had issued an arrest warrant against him.

Furthermore, the youth leader resurfaced a Hawaii court’s guilty verdict against Senator Marcos related to the killing of Archimedes Trajano. Trajano became a victim of the dictatorship after he asked a question in an open forum Imee Marcos conducted in August 1977.

“Senator Imee, do you remember Archimedes Trajano? A Hawaii court found you guilty for ordering his killing but you evaded it because a foreign court supposedly handed down this verdict. Your defense of Rodrigo Duterte comes from your own Marcos playbook. You walked away from jail so next gen criminals like Duterte could run,” Attorney Co emphasized.

Co called on his fellow Filipino youth to unite to hold accountable all criminals in the government and ruling class.