‘Biased’ ICC bent on interfering with PH sovereignty – Palace
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Sat, 06 Apr 2019 03:51:00 +0000
Malacañang on Saturday slammed the International Criminal Court (ICC) for pursuing the case filed against President Rodrigo Duterte in connection with his war on drugs, saying the tribunal was bent on interfering with the country’s sovereignty.
Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo made the statement following ICC’s decision to look into the second communication filed by the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) against Duterte.
“With the ICC writing the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers a letter on April 4, 2019 saying that it will analyze the latter’s communication in the context of a situation already under preliminary examination by it, it becomes apparent that this institution is indeed bent on interfering with the sovereignty of our Republic even if it means disregarding the Rome Statute, the very instrument which created it,” Panelo said in a statement.
“With the biased and preconceived actions of the ICC, we cannot blame the Filipino people for thinking that it has taken a politically-motivated obnoxious path aimed at maligning not just this Administration but the very Republic of the Philippines,” he added.
The Philippines’ withdrawal from the ICC became effective on March 17, 2019.
Panelo said the ICC would be violating its own rules if it would start with its preliminary investigation past the effectivity of the Philippines’ withdrawal from the tribunal.
He stressed that the international tribunal never acquired jurisdiction over the Philippines as the country’s ratification of the Rome Statute — the treaty that created the ICC — was never published in the Official Gazette.
“Even if we assume, for the sake of argument, that the Rome Statute became enforceable in the Philippines, the ICC can still no longer exercise its powers over the country as, in such hypothetical case, our withdrawal already became effective last month,” he added.
“Clearly, it is only when a criminal investigation has commenced prior to the effective date of the withdrawal that the ICC can continue with the case initiated. What the ICC, through the Office of the Prosecutor, is conducting is only a preliminary examination and not a criminal investigation or proceeding,” Panelo said. CATHERINE S. VALENTE
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