Elinando B. Cinco By Elinando B. Cinco   It all started with a crime that only a few Filipinos knew by name – extra-judicial killings – until after July, 2016, when it became the talk of the town. Today, dreaded by its initials EJKs, the official figure of the government on the number of fatalities is a little over 3,000. But the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights has it at more than 7,000. The figure has come about as a result of the relentless campaign of President Duterte to eradicate the clandestine importation, manufacture, distribution, and use of illicit drugs, and their protectors. The implementation of the drive is through the country’s national police, the military, and an anti-drug menace civilian agency. EJKs attributed to the administration triggered “a word war.” It travelled half-way around the globe – from Manila to the United Nations in New York, to The Hague in the Netherlands, Jordan, Iceland, and Beijing. The personalities involved: President Duterte, United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights and Prince of Jordan ZeidRa’ad al Hussein, UN Special Rapporteur Agne Callamard, International Criminal Court Prosecutor Fatou Benouda, Iceland Foreign Affairs Minister Gudlangur Thor Thordarson, UN Special Rapporteurs Victoria Tauli-Corpuz and Cecilia Jimenez-Damary, China Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang, Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, and presidential spokesman Harry Roque. A flurry of harsh words that can only be described as verbal mayhem flew from one corner of the globe to another, the wordings of which would make the most experienced diplomat grimace in frustration. It may also merit a host of charges against the Philippine government, in the person of President Duterte. At this point, they remain unspecified. But the UNCHR immediately went to work. First, it asked the Philippine government to allow the UN Rapporteur to further make some investigation which was refused. And, second, it instructed ICC prosecutor to proceed with her examination of the charges. Big Brother Beijing joined in the fray. He cautioned UNCHR not to touch Duterte, and instead respect the rights of its fair-haired kid. UN Special Rapporteurs Tauli-Corpuz and Jimenez-Damary also issued reports of human rights abuses and EJKs committed by the present leadership in Malacanang. But the Philippine government said the two were identified by the US State Department and European Union as sympathetic to the CPP-NPA group. The President said he would allow Rapporteur Callamard and Prosecutor Bernouda to come to the Philippines but only “as tourists.” Some media reports alleged he called the two“undernourished” and “that black woman” (or words to that effect), respectively. The Iceland government in Reykjavik has asked President Duterte to accept the visit of the two lady officials without conditions and limitations. Prince Ra’adal- Hussein thought the Duterte side remarks undignified for a head of state, and called for “a psychiatric evaluation” on the Philippine President. And in a manner of speaking, hell broke loose at the Palace by the Pasig. Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the comment of the Jordanian royal was an “affront to the Philippine sovereignty and to an elected head of a democratic country.” Foreign Affairs Secretary Cayetano said it was a irresponsible and disrespectful comment that cast untoward aspersions on President Duterte. And a more devastating aftermath came – the Philippines pulled out its membership in the International Criminal Court and as a signatory to the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the ICC. Last March 14, President Duterte officially withdrew the Philippines as state party to the Statute. He did so “to protest over the baseless and outrageous attacks against the administration, as well as due process.” The ICC was established in 1998 as the first permanent international court created to prosecute persons for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. In August, 2011, the Philippines became the 117th state party to the Rome Statute following the Senate ratification of that treaty. The Duterte withdrawal from the ICC has opened the floodgates of speculations from critics. Many said the President knew his case of EJKs is indefensible and there is an overwhelming amount of evidence against him. Some noted he would have faced his worst fear, that is, to be investigated by foreigners who are especially trained in criminal investigation. For more than three decades he was the interrogator, as prosecutor and mayor of Davao City. Skeptics in Mindanao are seriously concerned that his getting out of ICC will give him a free hand to do the harshest moves in the region, without fear of retribution, which is still under martial law.