Seriously, forming an independent Philippine investigative body to probe the previous regime’s bloody drug war is a major policy issue that’s being avoided with alacrity.

Yet, once a truly independent investigative body is formed, it will clarify any jurisdictional concerns raised in the current investigation by the International Criminal Court of the drug war.

To date, no independent investigative body to thoroughly probe Duterte’s bloody drug war — unlike the current piecemeal efforts — has been formed.

Admittedly, an independent investigative body on the drug war is understandably perilous politically, particularly since it would require attentive studies of political situations and timing.

Yet, such an investigative body lurks in the shadows in almost all of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s pronouncements on the politically fraught ICC investigation.

Similarly, an independent Filipino investigative body would backdrop Duterte’s vehement rejection of the ICC investigation and likely show where Duterte’s Achilles heel is.

This can be readily seen in Duterte’s December 2019 declaration: “You do not scare me, that you will jail me in the International Criminal Court. I will never allow myself to answer these whites… I am only responsible to the Filipinos. Filipinos will judge…”

Many observers, meanwhile, characterize Marcos’ ICC stance as indicative of indecisiveness.

Marcos, on Tuesday, for instance, said he still didn’t recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction but remained sufficiently vague about whether or not the ICC can conduct its investigation in the country.

His supposed indecisiveness has led to wide-ranging political speculations.

But the compelling political reading so far is that Marcos’s indecisiveness may not be on what the ICC will or won’t do. Still, more about him gauging the relative political strength of his erstwhile ally.

Undoubtedly, Marcos being at odds with Duterte is a significant political story to date.

Still, whatever the Chief Executive’s ICC stance will eventually mean, it is clear that he is cautiously hedging. He probably can’t yet see how serious a political damage his predecessor is capable of.

However, it is highly probable that once he’s sure of his footing, Marcos will eventually form a formal independent body to investigate the bloody drug war, the definitive centerpiece policy of his predecessor’s regime.

We can, of course, dismiss all these as overthinking the present fallout from the Marcos-Duterte alliance.

Nonetheless, Marcos has something going for him with his cautious ICC stance, particularly in light of two recent surveys showing a marked shift in Filipinos’ approving attitude towards the ongoing ICC probe.

Both Marcos and Duterte, I believe, are closely following such a crucial trend in recent public opinion about the drug war.

As this develops, another substantial result of the surveys indicates — if you’ll allow me to coin a term — the quickening progress of the “de-dutertefication” of the Filipino social and political spheres.

“De-dutertefication” (or Duterte’s waning influence) can be seen from the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showing Filipinos have gotten more knowledgeable about the ICC since 2018 when the international tribunal’s preliminary examination started.

From 10 percent extensive knowledge about the ICC investigation in March 2023, it is now up to 14 percent, and there are now 30 percent who have “partial but sufficient” knowledge, says SWS.

Such findings correlate to a survey, which showed that 55 percent of adult Filipinos now favor the Marcos government cooperating with the ICC.

Such a marked shift in public opinion on the ICC probe couldn’t have happened in the Duterte rose-tinted yet fisted era, for obvious reasons.

Anyway, should this new public opinion drift hold, the “de-dutertefication” of Philippine society and government will progress towards its logical conclusion.

Of course, “de-dutertefication” momentarily remains a complex process, especially since surviving Duterte allies are still trying to prove their political clout.

But if their clout exists only on borrowed time, especially in the face of the public’s new-found growing skepticism of the bloody drug war, we might just see their eventual political demise.