The irony is not lost on a lot of Filipinos who say that while our government officials tripped all over themselves to surrender a Filipino citizen — and a former President at that — to a foreign power, while running roughshod over constitutional guarantees, a small country (Timor-Leste) saw fit to extend to a non-citizen all the guarantees to human rights that its Organic Act and its statutes afford.

The timing couldn’t have been worse for the administration. While its key law enforcement officials were scrambling to explain to a Senate committee led by the President’s sister, Imee Marcos, why they made short shrift of the Constitution and applicable laws in shipping former President Duterte to the Netherlands, in came news that the government’s extradition request for Rep. Arnolfo Teves of Negros Oriental was denied by Dili.

Dili kami makasulti (We don’t have the words) was the first reaction of the administration. The Department of Justice (DoJ) was understandably pissed, calling the justice system of Timor-Leste (TL) “immature” and “corrupt.” This was unseemly coming from high officials of the Philippines directed at another country with which we have good diplomatic relations.

The DoJ spokesperson said the department was “both surprised and deeply disappointed by (the) development” and called the judgment “peculiar.” His boss, the DoJ secretary, had stronger words (the criticism aforementioned). Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary Claire Castro, true to form as one of the most clueless in government, assured us that an appeal was in the offing.

To briefly brief the uninitiated, during the Philippines’ first request for the extradition of Teves, a lengthy trial was held, after which the request was granted. Noting, however, the fatal procedural flaw whereby only one judge of the Tribunal de Recursos (Court of Appeals) of Timor-Leste sat during the trial but three judges signed the ruling, the lawyers of Teves filed for the avoidance of the same, citing due process and adjective law grounds.

It must be remembered that the classical definition of due process is that a judge must hear before he condemns, so how could the two other judges condemn when they had not heard the accused and the witnesses and evidence both in Teves’ favor and against him. This petition the plenary of the Tribunal granted and the judgment of extradition vacated.

Another trial de novo (or from the beginning), even lengthier, then ensued, after which a three-judge panel of the Tribunal (voting two in favor and one dissenting) granted extradition.

Since that trial was one of the first instance, due process under TL law mandated one appeal, which was made to a five-man plenary. It was that plenary that UNANIMOUSLY overturned the initial ruling and held that the testimony given during the trial, as well as actual related events that occurred within the Philippines, proved that there was great likelihood of Teves being subjected “to torture, inhuman, degrading or cruel treatment.”

Thus, the judgment concluded, under the TL Constitution, it was illegal to return Teves to the Philippines.

Those who decry that decision are abysmally ignorant of the history of TL. I was, together with now Estonia Consul General Fernando Peña and many other like-minded friends, part of the Free Timor Movement in the late 1990s. The present leaders of TL were those who, under Indonesian rule, were persecuted, tortured and hunted down like animals at the height of the Timorese armed struggle for independence. It was this historical memory and experience that makes TL very big on human and political rights.

Someone should tell our officials that badmouthing Timor-Leste’s justice system and making veiled threats of geopolitical repercussions may irretrievably harm our diplomatic relations.

Timor -Leste may be a young country, but its people are tough and resilient. In fact, they have beaten a much larger and richer country and its massive army. These uncalled-for remarks — extra dictions if you may — generate more heat than light and will further stiffen TL’s resolve against whatever they perceive may be bullying on our part.