Baste Warrior’s International

Today Joel Villanueva marked safe by Jesus

Jesus Crispin Remulla
The Ombudsman

𝗠𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗼 𝗚𝘂𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮 𝗖𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

When former Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra refused to abandon his legal position on the International Criminal Court, he showed what public service should look like.

Guevarra did not stand for former President Rodrigo Duterte simply because he had served in the Duterte administration. He stood by a principle: government officials must act within the law, even when political pressure demands a different answer.

After Duterte was arrested and transferred to The Hague, Guevarra refused to allow the Office of the Solicitor General to defend the government agencies involved in the case. His position was consistent. He maintained that the Philippines had already withdrawn from the Rome Statute and had no obligation to cooperate with the ICC.

It was not blind loyalty. It was legal consistency.

This separates Guevarra from officials such as Defense Secretary Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. and National Security Adviser Eduardo Año, whose names were linked to the government’s response to Duterte’s arrest. Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla described the operation as a “group effort” involving President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Teodoro and Año, although Año later denied taking part in planning the arrest.

For many Duterte supporters, the issue goes beyond politics. It is about betrayal.

These officials served under Duterte or benefited from the political order shaped during his presidency. Yet when an aging former president was arrested and swiftly transferred to the ICC, they stood with the Marcos administration while questions about Philippine sovereignty, due process and the proper legal procedure remained deeply contested.

Guevarra chose a different path.

He did not change his legal position to keep his office. He did not adjust his principles to fit the direction of the administration. He accepted the political cost of standing firm.

Months later, President Marcos replaced Guevarra as Solicitor General during a Cabinet revamp. Malacañang did not publicly state that Guevarra’s ICC position caused his removal. Still, the timing raised a fair question: Was there still room in the Marcos administration for an official who refused to bend his interpretation of the law?

History should remember Guevarra not merely as a Duterte appointee, but as a lawyer who chose principle over position.

Public service is tested when loyalty to the law becomes inconvenient. Guevarra passed that test.

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