THE WHEELS of justice in the Philippines are often described as grinding slowly, but in the current climate of 2026, they have accelerated into a crushing momentum. In just a period of ten years – from 2016 to 2026 – the political invincibility of the Duterte dynasty has faced a near-total collapse, marking a definitive shift in the country’s power landscape.
A Decade of Shadows
To understand the gravity of the present, one must look back ten years. In 2016, the political atmosphere was defined by the iron-fisted ascension of Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte. It was an era where dissent was met with swift retribution.
Former senator Leila de Lima, the most vocal critic of the administration’s “War on Drugs,” was systematically vilified and eventually detained on make-up charges that were politically motivated. For years, she remained in a cage, a living warning of Duterte to his challengers. Simultaneously, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV presented evidence regarding alleged “hidden wealth” belonging to the Duterte family. At the time, with a super-majority in Congress, the “Trillanes expose” was effectively shelved and mocked. The Ombudsman shelved the evidences, and Deputy Ombudsman Arthur Carandang was unceremoniously kicked out by Digong.
The Great Pivot
Today, in 2026, the scenery has inverted. The hunter has now become the hunted.
In April 22, the International Criminal Court (ICC) finally denied the Duterte camp’s final plea for a reprieve, upholding its jurisdiction over crimes against humanity. Rodrigo Duterte, who once boasted he would never face a foreign court, now finds his legal avenues exhausted. On the same day, April 22, as in a play of fate, the House Committee on Justice moved forward with impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte, as the very evidence Trillanes presented a decade ago finally found its way into the official record. The AMLC proved every accusation of Trillanes to be true after all. Trillanes was vindicated. Truth finally surfaced.
The Ultimate Contrast
The most striking image of this “Reversal of Fortunes” lies in the local executive seats of two major cities.
In the 2025 midterm elections, Leni Robredo—the former Vice President who was once sidelined, insulted and vilified by the Duterte machinery—was overwhelmingly elected Mayor of Naga City. Today, she walks the streets of her hometown as a free woman and a sitting executive well loved by his constituents.
In contrast, Rodrigo Duterte also sought a return to his roots, winning the mayoralty of Davao City by a landslide. Yet, in a twist of fate that has stunned the nation, he has never ruled for even a single day. From the moment the election results were certified, the ICC’s intervention and local legal challenges moved with surgical precision. While Robredo holds office in the light of day, the man who once insulted her, now sits behind bars in the Hague – from a president to a prisoner – awaiting trial.
Likewise, Jed Mabilog, once the “hunted” Mayor of Iloilo City, spent seven years in exile to escape a “narco-list” that he and state agencies now confirm was Digong’s fabrication. Today, his civil rights have been fully restored through executive clemency, his name cleared of the administrative shadows cast by the former president. He walks free in the sunlight of his home city, while the man who once threatened his life now sits alone, old and forlorn in a cell.
Then there’s Kerwin Espinosa. In 2016, Espinosa’s father was killed in a jail cell—a death the Senate condemned as a clear extrajudicial killing. Kerwin himself was imprisoned and vilified. Today, in a startling political resurrection, he has been elected Mayor of Albuera, Leyte, reclaiming the seat his father once held. The fugitive has become the executive.
Vindicated and Exposed
The comparison after ten years is stark and poetic:
* De Lima is now free, her name cleared and is now a partylist representative.
* Trillanes sees his years of “shelved” evidence forming the backbone of a formal inquiry.
* Robredo now governs a progressive city in freedom.
* Mabilog has now returned free with restored civil rights.
* Espinosa once jailed is now a Mayor of his town – from a fugitive to executive.
* Duterte, the once-feared strongman, is now alone in a prison cell with nothing to govern.
* Bato de la Rosa is now hiding, on the run, from possible ICC arrest.
* Harry Roque is also on the run, a fugitive that was finally denied asylum in the Netherlands.
The state apparatus that was once used to crush dissent has now turned its gears toward those who built it. The narrative of 2016 has been completely reversed in 2026. The victims of yesterday are the victors of today, and the “untouchables” of the past have finally discovered that no one is truly beyond the reach of the law. It’s just a matter of time before the law puts them in their rightful proper place./PN
