SC orders Solgen to answer De Lima's plea for furlough to join ICC withdrawal arguments
MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court has directed the Office of the Solicitor General to answer Sen. Leila De Lima’s plea to be allowed to personally argue on her fellow senators’ legal challenge to the country’s withdrawal of membership from the International Criminal Court.
The SC full court gave the OSG five days to answer De Lima’s Manifestation and Motion, where she asked high tribunal to allow her to be temporarily released from her detention at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center.
Last week, De Lima filed her appeal to personally argue, as one of the petitioners, during the oral arguments of their case against the executive branch.
The oral arguments are also moved from August 7 to 14 at 2 p.m.
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 the lack of necessary concurrence from the Senate.
In the 17-page petition filed last month, the opposition lawmakers 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 a 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.
De Lima has been detained since February 2017 over her pending drug cases before the Muntinlupa trial court. She is being accused of having a hand in the proliferation of drug trading inside the New Bilibid Prison during her stint as secretary of justice.
The country’s withdrawal of membership from the ICC also faces a second petition, which was consolidated with the case, filed by the Philippine Coalition for the International Criminal Court led by former Commission on Human Rights chair Loretta Rosales.
The Philippines announced it would be withdrawing from the ICC last March, a month after the international tribunal opened a preliminary examination into the alleged crimes against humanity of President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration.
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