CRIME&PUNISHMENT-DU30’S EJK: MANILA- PH can’t quit ICC — Drilon

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Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Monday said the Philippines’ withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC) “must be [done] with the concurrence of the majority of the senators.”

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He noted that 18 senators in 2018 signed a resolution that stated that the withdrawal from the ICC “cannot be done without the concurrence of the Senate.”

“My reading of the statutes indicates that indeed cases filed before the withdrawal will not affect the jurisdiction of the ICC in trying the case if in fact [it finds] probable cause,” Drilon said.

When asked how he would treat a pending resolution signed by the 18 senators, Senate President Vicente Sotto 3rd said, “We have not passed that resolution. So, as long as we do not pass a resolution in plenary, that resolution is a piece of paper. Did we ratify that? When?”

A day after the Philippines officially moved out of the ICC on Sunday, Malacañang said the government’s “merciless” fight against enemies of the state would continue.
On March 17, the Philippines’ membership in the Rome Statute, which created the ICC, was revoked.

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President Rodrigo Duterte in March last year pulled the Philippines out of the treaty, preempting cases he was facing connected with his bloody anti-drug war before the tribunal.

In a statement, Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo said the administration’s drive against “destroyers of society” was based on the President’s constitutional duty to serve and protect the people.

He added that nothing would stop Duterte from pursuing the objective.

“The fight against the enemies of the state will be continuing with merciless constitutional force and unstoppable scorching motion until the republic and the people are secure from their evil and destructive clutches,” Panelo said.

He added that Filipinos continue to long for policies with immediate results, which he claimed is happening through the Duterte administration.

The spokesman said the supposed extra-judicial killings committed under the Duterte administration were not state-sponsored and that they were a result of a deadly war among drug syndicates, drug lords and drug pushers.

“The anti-illegal drug campaign is anchored on national survival as well as accountability of those who bring the nation to the precipice of destruction,” Panelo added.

He said the country’s justice system was “operational and strictly compliant with the constitutional requirement of due process.”

Panelo cited a Social Weather Stations survey wherein 7 of 10 Filipinos voiced satisfaction with the government’s anti-drug war.

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