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Tony La Viña @tonylavs.bsky.social · 19h

On eagle’s wings, flying from the homeland to my other home. May the stars and wind guide us this night!

Tony La Viña @tonylavs.bsky.social · 3d

In my happy place in Mindanao. Here, I learned to fight a dictatorship and for social justice and democracy, for the poor and our country. Here, I learned to pray.

Tony La Viña @tonylavs.bsky.social · 3d

On eagle’s wings, to the great island for a human rights mission.

Tony La Viña @tonylavs.bsky.social · 3d

In doing so, the Senate sanitize state brutality and signals to future leaders that accountability is negotiable. The move erases victims from the moral equation, offering neither truth nor redress — only silence in the face of impunity.

Tony La Viña @tonylavs.bsky.social · 3d

This resolution sends a chilling message: that political power, not justice, determines who is worthy of compassion.

Worse, the Senate’s action reframes Duterte’s narrative — from a leader accused of orchestrating mass violence to a figure worthy of protection.

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Tony La Viña @tonylavs.bsky.social · 3d

It undermines victims’ rights, excludes them from the conversation, and weakens the Philippines’ moral standing in the global human rights arena.

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Tony La Viña @tonylavs.bsky.social · 3d

By prioritizing the comfort of the accused over justice for victims, the Senate effectively spits on the graves of thousands of Filipinos whose lives were brutally cut short.

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Tony La Viña @tonylavs.bsky.social · 3d

Prosecutors have previously cited threats from Duterte’s allies as evidence of a climate of intimidation toward victims and witnesses.

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Tony La Viña @tonylavs.bsky.social · 3d

The ICC is not swayed by political sentiment but by evidence and procedure.

The Senate’s gesture, therefore, is not only irrelevant to ICC proceedings but may actually reinforce the Court’s concern about political interference.

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Tony La Viña @tonylavs.bsky.social · 3d

The danger lies in the conflation of politics with justice. When legislative bodies weaponize ignorance of international law to manipulate public sentiment, they erode the very notion of accountability.

Tony La Viña @tonylavs.bsky.social · 3d

The Senate’s move transforms justice into political theater — a performance designed to appease allies, project loyalty, and deflect scrutiny from institutional complicity in the drug war.

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Tony La Viña @tonylavs.bsky.social · 3d

This resolution, though cloaked in humanitarian language, betrays a profound misunderstanding of international law & a deliberate effort to serve domestic political optics. It positions Duterte not as a respondent in a crimes-against-humanity case, but as a sympathetic figure deserving protection.

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Tony La Viña @tonylavs.bsky.social · 3d

The Senate’s resolution urging International Criminal Court to place former president Rodrigo Duterte under house arrest carries no legal weight. It is a hollow gesture — politically charged, legally baseless, and morally corrosive. manilastandard.net/opinion/colu...

Spitting on the graves of Duterte’s victims - Manila Standard

“The Senate resolution betrays a profound misunderstanding of international law and a deliberate effort to serve domestic political optics” The Senate’s

manilastandard.net

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Tony La Viña @tonylavs.bsky.social · 4d

Lecturing at Office of Solicitor General on advisory opinions on climate justice by International Tribunal on Law of the Sea & International Court of Justice. I included implications of these opinions on our environmental jurisprudence & its relevance to our corruption crisis.

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Tony La Viña @tonylavs.bsky.social · 5d

Happy to be the guest speaker at the academic convocation of the Centro Escolar University. I think I did well, especially because of the sing-along sections of my talk. We sang Ben and Ben’s Kapangyarihan at the beginning and ended with the new Taylor Swift song Opalite.

Tony La Viña @tonylavs.bsky.social · 6d

Earlier: oral midterms for my University of Makati environmental law class. They surprised me with their Happy Teacher's Day virtual background. So I put on my Neruda cover - to tell them I love them too!

Tony La Viña @tonylavs.bsky.social · 6d

Happy to meet Noni Abao, director of Bloom Where You Are Planted. Its the first Cinemalaya film I watched. I will be watching others.

Tony La Viña @tonylavs.bsky.social · 7d

Happy teacher’s Day Chad and Jurain, Rosh and Mao, Rose and Rius, Pia and Victoria and other Lumad teachers. We will have a reunion soon. We will rebuild the schools and they will be better.

Tony La Viña @tonylavs.bsky.social · 7d

Lets all bloom where we are planted! Thanks Noni Abao for such a powerful film!

Everyone an Agnes, Amanda, and Randy!

Tigilin ang pag-aatake sa mga aktibista! Hustisya para sa lahat ng pinaslang ng estado! Bilangong politikal, palayain!

Tony La Viña @tonylavs.bsky.social · 7d

Happy Myles, watching a concert in Manila for the first time in seven plus years. Nagkanta ug sayaw pa! Watch the videos!

Tony La Viña @tonylavs.bsky.social · 8d

The acquittal of Mabinay 6 is a relief, but it cannot undo the years of unjust detention they endured.

I must say though that Myles has become stronger as a person and more committed to social change after seven years, six months, and 28 days in unjust detention.

Tony La Viña @tonylavs.bsky.social · 9d

I visited him to offer the collaboration of the Movement Against Disinformation with the Mayors for Good Governance on the anti-corruption fight. Our litigation team in MAD is ready to fight the disinformation being deployed by corrupt politicians to escape accountability.

Tony La Viña @tonylavs.bsky.social · 9d

Happy to visit the good, bright future of the Philippines - Mayor Vico Sotto, my student and former colleague at the Ateneo School of Government.

Mayor Vico, as I have written and tell everyone, is the real thing in good governance.

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Tony La Viña @tonylavs.bsky.social · 11d

Four gestures for the United Nations on its 80th anniversary! Its an imperfect institution, but it is essential for human rights and humanitarian crises, international cooperation on climate, biodiversity and other sustainability issues, and global peace and security,

Tony La Viña @tonylavs.bsky.social · 11d

Thank you St. Therese for your gentle whispers in these past months as I struggled with burdens! You reminded me to offer my pain and suffering so others may be healed and that I did!

Photos are from our 2012 pilgrimage to Lisieux.