MANILA, Philippines – There is no fight for jurisdiction when it comes to the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation into the killings under Rodrigo Duterte, Leila de Lima told the House Quad Committee on Tuesday, October 22.
De Lima, a former lawmaker and Commission on Human Rights (CHR) chairperson, said that the domestic International Humanitarian Law (IHL) or Republic Act 9851 allows Philippine authorities to give way to the ICC with or without membership in the ICC.
Section 17 of IHL says “the relevant Philippine authorities may dispense with the investigation or prosecution of a crime punishable under this Act if another court or international tribunal is already conducting the investigation or undertaking the prosecution of such crime.”
Crimes against humanity, which is the alleged crime being investigated by the ICC prosecutor, is among the crimes punishable under the IHL.
There’s been a long-winding debate on whether the Philippines has an obligation to cooperate with the ICC, seeing that we are no longer members since Duterte ordered the withdrawal in 2018, which became effective in 2019.
The appeals chamber of the ICC had ruled that the investigation can continue, but it’s a different question altogether if Philippine authorities will enforce the ICC’s orders because the court does not have its own police powers. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has not had a definitive policy on this.
“Napakasimple po ang ibig sabihin ng batas na ito, hindi pa tayo miyembro ng ICC…mayroon na po tayong general na pahintulot sa anumang international body tulad ng ICC na tugisin at litisin ang Pilipino na magiging kasabwat sa mga tinatawag na crimes against humanity katulad ng malawakang EJK [extrajudicial killings] sa ilalim ng drug war,” De Lima told the Quad Committee on Tuesday, as it resumed its hearing but without the attendance of the most-awaited resource person, Duterte himself.
(This law is very simple, we were not even members of the ICC yet but we already gave general consent to any international body like the ICC to prosecute and try Filipinos involved in crimes against humanity, for example, the rampant extrajudicial killings under the drug war.)
The IHL was enacted in 2009. Philippines became a member of the ICC in 2011.
Section 17 of the IHL further says: “Instead, the authorities may surrender or extradite suspected or accused persons in the Philippines to the appropriate international court, if any, or to another State pursuant to the applicable extradition laws and treaties.”
De Lima pointed out that if the Philippines were to follow this and extradite drug war suspects to The Hague, it doesn’t mean relinquishing our jurisdiction over them, but rather just letting the international body finish its proceedings first.
“I do recognize that this is totally discretionary on the part of the Philippine authorities, just like our other extradition treaties where we can surrender someone first to a requesting party, but it depends on us if we will do that,” De Lima said in a mix of English and Filipino.
De Lima said the IHL highlights the Philippines’ recognition of the ICC as an authority, despite what the former senator referred to as Duterte’s “selfish withdrawal.” To ignore the ICC is to ignore our own law, said De Lima.
Human rights advocates fought for over a decade so Congress would ratify the Rome Statute so we can be a member of the ICC, but Duterte unilaterally withdrew from it. A constitutional question on Duterte’s unilateral withdrawal ended up being mooted by the Supreme Court because by the time it decided, the withdrawal had already taken effect.
De Lima’s seeming message to Marcos and Congress: “I respectfully submit, rather than repeal this law, we should now take steps to retract the self-serving act of Mr. Duterte to withdraw from the ICC in 2018 — we must return to the fold of the ICC, we must return to the community of nations.”
The ICC’s investigation is at the stage where Prosecutor Karim Khan can already request for summons or arrest warrants, if he has not already done so. Under the ICC’s rules, this request and even the issuance of the court proper can be confidential. It’s discretionary upon the prosecutor and ICC to publicize these steps whenever they see fit.
All we know is that the ICC Prosecutor has been wanting interviews with former police officials it considers under suspicion — top of the list is Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, the architect of the drug war.
De Lima was at the Quad Committee hearing as a resource person based on her knowledge of the Davao Death Squad (DDS), because she investigated this as the chairperson of the CHR, and also her knowledge of drug war killings as the senator who probed it before she was sent to jail for 7 years or until end of 2023.
– Rappler.com