De Lima asks SC to allow her to argue vs ICC withdrawal

MANILA, Philippines — Detained Sen. Leila De Lima has asked the Supreme Court to allow her to personally argue and defend the petition she and her colleagues filed challenging the Philippines’ withdrawal from the International Criminal Court.

The senator filed a manifestation with motion asking the SC to allow her to personally argue, as one of the petitioners, during the oral arguments set at 2 p.m. on August 7.

SC spokesperson Theodore Te said that the oral arguments has been moved from July 24 to a later date.

De Lima is one of the minority senators who sought the nullification of the executive branch’s withdrawal of the country’s membership to the ICC due to lack of necessary concurrence from the Senate.

In the 17-page petition filed last month, they cited Article VII Section 21 of the 1987 Constitution which states that “entering into treaty or international agreement requires participation of Congress, that is, through concurrence of at least two-thirds of all the members of the Senate.”

De Lima stressed that while there are prohibitions on the appearance of members of the Congress before any court of justice, lawmakers are only barred from attending when the member of the Congress is a counsel to the case. In the said case, De Lima is one of the petitioners.

She cited Section 14, Article VI of the 1987 Constitution which states: “No Senator or member of the House of Representatives may personally appear as counsel before any court of justice or before the Electoral Tribunals, or quasi-judicial and other administrative bodies.”

The senator also asked the tribunal to “take judicial notice of permitting members of Congress to appear before it and argue their cases.”

“The situation of Senator De Lima is not different from them,” the pleading reads.

Since February 2017, the senator has been detained at Camp Crame Detention Center over her drug cases pending before the Muntinlupa trial court. She is being accused of having a hand in the proliferation of drug trading inside the walls of the New Bilibid Prison during her stint as secretary of justice.

In a hearing last week, the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 206 denied De Lima’s motion to quash information.

Her camp argued that the Justice department’s move to amend the charges against her—from drug trading to conspiracy in drug trade—merits a new probe, but the local court threw out De Lima’s motion.