The Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG) today issued a statement following the confirmation of charges by the International Criminal Court against former President Rodrigo Duterte in connection with alleged crimes linked to the government’s so-called “war on drugs.”   CenPEG emphasized that the ICC’s confirmation of charges is a procedural legal determination that there are sufficient grounds for the case to proceed to trial. It is not a conviction, but it si

Synthesis This paper seeks to explore and analyze the Marcos Jr. administration’s consolidation of power amid a deepening crisis of legitimacy. It argues that the regime’s trajectory reveals a governance model anchored in elite accommodation, technocratic spectacle, and the selective use of reformist discourse to obscure entrenched patronage and authoritarian tendencies. While early efforts at regime-building enabled the alignment of key institutions—the legislature, judiciar