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Bam Aquino’s “Ideally Local” EJK Fantasy vs Trillanes’ ICC Reality – Why the Opposition Is Handing 2028 to Sara Duterte

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Louis ‘Barok’ Biraogo

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Bam Aquino’s “Ideally Local” EJK Fantasy vs Trillanes’ ICC Reality – Why the Opposition Is Handing 2028 to Sara Duterte
Nine Years of Waiting, Zero Local Cases: Where Was Bam When the Bodies Were Dropping?

By Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — February 22, 2026

ANO ba ‘yan, mga ka-kweba? Former President Rodrigo Duterte is already in The Hague awaiting trial for crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court (ICC), with confirmation-of-charges hearings opening in two days. Co-perpetrators like Senators Bong Go and Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa are being named. And what are our so-called opposition “leaders” doing? Bickering like high-school cliques over whether the butcher should be tried “ideally” here or there.

Welcome to Philippine politics 2026 edition: where the dead are props, the living are votes, and principle is whatever polls best this week.

“OPPOSITION CIRCUS: How Bam, Trillanes & Risa Are Gifting Sara Duterte the 2028 Presidency While Rome Burns”

The Core Controversy and Its Principal Actors

According to the Philstar report titled “Opposition infighting? Trillanes hits Aquino as Hontiveros urges focus,” the extrajudicial killings (EJKs) may be driving a wedge between opposition leaders after Senator Bam Aquino’s recent statement ruffled some feathers.

Senator Bam Aquino declared that EJK cases should ideally be tried in Philippine courts “kasi ang mga biktima po ay nandito rin.”

“Ideally.”

Oh, talaga? “Ideally” is the weasel word of the century. Bam, scion of the “Tuwid na Daan,” sat in the Senate from 2013 to 2019—right through the bloodiest years of the drug war. Trillanes asked the question that should have ended the conversation: Kinasuhan mo ba?

Instead, he floats this sovereignty fairy tale while victims’ families have waited nine years. Is this genuine belief in local justice or a cynical audition for moderate and Diehard Duterte Supporters (DDS) votes ahead of 2028? Social media already buzzes with rumors of a Bam-Sara tandem.

Former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV—the man who actually filed the ICC case, protected witnesses, and gathered evidence—responded with righteous rage. Nine years of waiting. Families watching while the “nagbibida-bida” crowd did nothing at the height of the killings. He is correct: the local system is far from ideal.

But he turns a bridgeable disagreement into public war against a 2022 ally. Is this principle or ego? Airing old 2022 grievances days before the ICC hearings hands the Marcos-Duterte machine fresh ammunition to paint the opposition as fractured.

Senator Risa Hontiveros, touted as a possible 2028 standard-bearer, steps in with the classic unifier line: focus on forming a “tighter alliance” to pick candidates by the end of the year or first quarter of next year.

While Rome burns with the blood of thousands, she plays referee yelling “no fighting in the hallway.” In trying to keep the peace, she lets the rot fester.

The central debate—local versus international justice—is not complicated. Local trials would be meaningful, Aquino says. Victims are here. Sovereignty.

This is the same sovereignty that let Duterte pack the judiciary with loyalists.

The Systemic Rot: EJKs and the Rule of Law

Let’s stop treating the numbers like accounting. The government says at least 6,000. Human rights advocates believe the number could be as high as 30,000. Those are not statistics. Those are fathers dragged from homes in front of screaming children. Mothers identifying bodies in body bags. Three-year-olds shot in the head. Schoolboys like Kian delos Santos executed with planted evidence. Widows selling vegetables to feed orphans who now flinch at the sight of men in uniform.

The horror happened mostly in the slums—the war on the poor disguised as war on drugs. And the system? A charade.

Then-Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla admitted the justice system failed the victims’ families: prosecutors faced pressure, witnesses were intimidated or killed, records “lost,” only a handful of convictions amid thousands of killings. Duterte’s appointees poisoned the judiciary.

This is precisely why the ICC exists—complementarity. The Philippines failed. Spectacularly. Repeatedly. For the poor and powerless, local justice was never an option; it was the problem.

Aquino’s “ideal” is a cruel joke told to grieving mothers. Trillanes’s hardline stance is the only realistic path because the alternative is impunity with a Filipino accent.

The Disgrace of the Opposition

This is diagnosis, not personality attack.

Trillanes is the truth-teller whose tactics ensure perpetual defeat. Valuable on substance, suicidal on strategy.

Bam Aquino is the moderate willing to soft-pedal a national sin for electoral math. From a clan that once preached accountability, now floating sovereignty to court the very base that cheered the killings.

Risa Hontiveros is the wise unifier who, in refusing to confront the divide, becomes its enabler.

Their infighting is not mere disagreement—it is a strategic own-goal of biblical proportions. While they trade Facebook posts and press briefings, Sara Duterte consolidates machinery and watches the reformists eat each other alive.

At this rate, 2028 writes itself: a fractured slate, clashing messages—“ICC or local? Hardline or moderate?”—and Sara sweeping into Malacañang on a wave of nostalgia and order. Picture the scene: Trillanes live-tweeting “I told you so,” Bam moderating a panel on “nuance,” Risa calling for focus… while the dead stay dead and the powerful laugh from the Palace.

Demands and Recommendations

Enough.

To the opposition—Trillanes, Aquino, Hontiveros, and the rest of the reform-minded forces:

  1. Commit to transparency within your own ranks. Publicly and honestly address past actions and inactions on the EJKs. No more selective amnesia.
  2. Commit to a singular vision for justice and the rule of law. Articulate a clear dual-track strategy: full support for the ICC process now, because local justice is broken; and radical structural reform of the Philippine system—independent judiciary, witness protection that actually works, police overhaul, removal of Duterte-era loyalists. No weasel words.
  3. Hold yourselves to a higher standard of politics. Reject the disinformation, personality cults, and dirty tactics you claim to oppose in your rivals.
  4. Offer a genuine platform for public service and pro-people governance. Being “anti-Duterte” is not a governance plan. Address the masa’s pain: jobs, inflation, housing, education, disaster resilience. Justice without bread is hollow; bread without justice is slavery.

Concretely: Form an official coalition now with a transparent primary process. Empower Risa Hontiveros as mediator and potential standard-bearer—if she can move beyond platitudes and force honest reconciliation. The clock is ticking; 2028 waits for no one.

The victims’ families have waited nine years. The opposition has no more excuses.

Grow a spine, unite on principle, or step aside. The dead demand better. The living deserve it.

The Filipino people are watching.

Barok has spoken.
Share. Rage. Act.

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Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo

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