House panel tackles proposals for government cooperation with ICC

MANILA, Philippines —  The House of Representatives’ joint committees on human rights and justice started the hearing on two pending resolutions that call on all government agencies and departments to work with the International Criminal Court (ICC).

During the plenary Tuesday night, the chamber read HR 1477 on first reading and referred it to the committee on justice.

This happened amid the word war of the House with former president Rodrigo Duterte, who tagged the chamber as a “rotten institution” after it removed the P650 million in confidential fund of his daughter, Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte.

HR 1477 was authored by Congressmen Benny Abante and Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez of 1-Rider party-list.

The other measure, HR 1393, was sponsored by party-list Reps. France Castro of ACT Teachers, Raoul Manuel of Kabataan and Arlene Brosas of Gabriela.

Another similar measure, HR 1482, was filed on Monday by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman who manifested during the hearing that the Philippines “must cooperate with ICC.”

Otherwise, the veteran lawmaker warned the Philippines “will be a renegade in the community of nations.”

Lagman recalled the jurisdiction of the ICC over “covered crimes committed in the Philippines took effect on Nov. 1, 2011 after the Philippines acceded to the Rome Statute.”

“At the behest of former president Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines on March 17, 2018 withdrew from the Rome Statute,” he said.

But pursuant to Article 127 of the Rome Statute, the  Philippines’ withdrawal became effective only one  year after its filing, or on March 17, 2019.

“Consequently, the jurisdiction of the ICC on covered crimes committed in the Philippines spans the period from Nov. 1, 2011 to March 16, 2019,” he noted.

Lagman said that on April 24, 2017, “a verified complaint” was filed against Duterte and others for “purportedly committing crimes against humanity in the wake of Duterte’s campaign against dealers and users of illegal drugs.”

“In other words, the complaint was filed when the ICC still had jurisdiction,” he said.

For her part, Sen. Imee Marcos yesterday opposed the resolution filed in the House of Representatives urging the government to cooperate with the ICC probe on the drug war killings during the previous administration.

In an interview with reporters in Navotas, Marcos said allowing the ICC to conduct a probe is tantamount to surrendering the country’s sovereignty. – Marc Jayson Cayabyab, Emmanuel Tupas