VICE President Sara Duterte yesterday said that while she respects the decision of President Marcos Jr. to study the possibility of the country rejoining the International Criminal Court (ICC), she will not be swayed into changing its stance against the country’s cooperation in the international body’s investigation into the bloody war on drugs of her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte.
“We all should respect the position of the President. Being the chief architect of foreign policy, ‘yun po lahat dapat ang position natin lahat (that should all be our position),” the Vice President told reporters at the Manila Hotel where she attended the 31st National Children’s Month culminating program.
However, she added that her office will “continue to reach out to the DOJ (Department of Justice) regarding our position on this matter and we will lay down the legal basis of our position with the DOJ.”
Months after firmly speaking against the ICC probe, the President last week said calls for the country to rejoin the ICC is now “under study.”
The President at the same time tried to downplay the House of Representatives’ move to tackle resolutions calling on the government to cooperate with the ICC investigation, saying this was not unusual since some congressmen “are just expressing or manifesting the sense of the House that perhaps it’s time to allow or to cooperate with the ICC investigation.”
The Vice President last week slammed the House leadership for hearing the resolutions urging the government to cooperate with the ICC in pursuing its investigation on her father, saying that congressmen have to respect the stand that the President has taken against it.
Given what she said was the President’s “clear standpoint” against the ICC probe, she urged the House “to respect the position of the President, who is the chief architect of our foreign policy.”
The younger Duterte said the President has also already affirmed that his opinion is based on the fact that the ICC “ceased to have jurisdiction over the Philippines upon the effectivity of our withdrawal from the Rome Statute on March 17, 2019.”
On Sunday, Sen. Ronaldo dela Rosa questioned the timing of the filing of House Resolution No. 1393 by the militant Makabayan bloc and HR No. 1477 by Rep. Bienvenido Abante of Manila and Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez (PL, 1-Rider), saying these were made amid the continuing conflict between the House and the Vice President and her father over the move of congressmen to strip the OVP of confidential funds.
The House joint committees on justice and on human rights last week began tackling the resolutions but lawmakers later decided to defer the hearings pending the referral of Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman’s House Resolution No. 1482 which seeks to verify if the body has jurisdiction over the country since the Duterte administration withdrew from the ICC’s Rome Statute on March 17, 2018.
Lagman, a veteran lawyer-lawmaker, has said it is essential for the joint panel to first “establish and confirm the verity” of some “factual and legal parameters” before tackling the resolutions.
He reminded the joint panels that the jurisdiction of the ICC over covered crimes committed in the Philippines took effect on November 1, 2011 after the Philippines acceded to the Rome Statute and the withdrawal became effective only a year after its filing, specifically on March 17, 2019.
Consequently, Lagman said the jurisdiction of the ICC on covered crimes committed in the Philippines spans the period from November 1, 2011 to March 16, 2019.
Dela Rosa yesterday said rejoining the ICC will require the concurrence of the Senate as mandated by the Philippine Constitution.
“Well, if we want to rejoin, dadaan pa rin ‘yan sa proseso (it still has to undergo the process). It (return to ICC) has to be ratified by the President, and after the President’s ratification, it has to be concurred by the Senate by two-thirds vote. So, that’s the process.
Back to zero. Back to square one,” Dela Rosa said in an interview with ANC.
Dela Rosa said the “power” to approve a treaty ratified by the President rests on the Senate alone, “otherwise ‘yung pag-rejoin natin will become unconstitutional (otherwise, it [rejoining the ICC] will become unconstitutional).”
Dela Rosa said that for now, he cannot say if senators would back the move since the upper house “is composed of 24 independents republics” who cannot be dictated upon.
“Just in case the President decides to rejoin, as I have said, hindi ako makakasiguro kung makakalusot ‘yan. Dadaan pa ‘yan sa debate (I am not sure if it will pass. It will still undergo debates),” he added.
He said the main reason former President Duterte withdrew the Philippines’ membership to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, was due to the international court’s meddling with the country’s working justice system.
Dela Rosa said: “Sabihin man ninyo na personal ang rason ni Presidente Duterte why he withdrew from the Rome Statute, then so be it kung yan ang pagtingin niyo. Pero pagtingin naman ng pangulo, ang pangulo ay nagalit dahil nga nakikialam sila. Very clear ‘yan.
Pinapaki-alaman tayo kahit gumagana ang justice system dito kaya nag-react si Pangulong Duterte (You can say that President Duterte’s reason was personal. So be it if that’s how you view it. But to his point of view, he got angry because the ICC interfered, it was very clear, they were meddling even if our justice system is working, that’s why President Duterte reacted),” he added.
Dela Rosa said Duterte is willing to face accusations in relation to his administration’s war on drugs as long as he is tried by Philippine courts, and not by courts which he said is run by “whites” and “blacks.”
“Former President Duterte has made it very clear na haharap ako sa korte ng Pilipino. And ako rin, being a Filipino, I am answerable kung meron man akong dapat pananagutan, sa korte ng Pilipinas, hindi sa korte ng mga banyaga (Former President Duterte has made it very clear that he will face the charges in Philippine courts. Even me, being a Filipino, I am answerable, if there is really something I have to answer for, in Philippine courts, not in foreign courts),” he stressed.
He also said he is not scared of the ICC since he is banking on the earlier pronouncement of President Marcos that he will not allow the foreign investigators to set foot in the country.
“President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is very firm on his stand about not allowing ICC to interfere with our justice system. So, he said, very fundamental questions, very fundamental issues.
Number one is sovereignty, and number two jurisdiction. That was clearly said by President Marcos. So, those issues will not be easily resolved,” he said in mixed Filipino and English. — With Raymond Africa
