No TRO: Duterte fails to get SC relief

MANILA, Philippines —  The Supreme Court saw no need to immediately issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte and the government’s indirect cooperation with the International Criminal Court (ICC). 

In a one-page statement yesterday, the SC said it did not find any basis to grant the request of petitioners Duterte and Sen. Ronald dela Rosa to issue an immediate TRO against the government.  

“After a virtual deliberation on the 94-page petition, the SC found that the petitioners failed to establish a clear and unmistakable right for the immediate issuance of a TRO,” the SC said.  

Meanwhile, respondents were given a non-extendible period of 10 days to submit their comments on the petition for TRO and/or writ of preliminary injunction. 

Respondents named in the petition were Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla, Philippine National Police chief General Rommel Francisco Marbil, PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group head Major General Nicolas Torre IIII, Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo, Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. and former Bureau of Immigration commissioner Norman Tansingco. 

The petitioners, through their legal counsel Israelito Torreon, filed the documents last March 11 at 4:27 p.m.

Following instructions from Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo, the petition was immediately raffled to a member-in-charge and uploaded to the SC website.  

The SC also said it electronically received the Very Urgent Manifestation with Reiterative Prayer for the Issuance of a TRO and/or Writ of Preliminary Injunction at 11:17 p.m. of March 11. 

In filing the TRO application, the Duterte camp was running against time to stop the departure of the former president, who was by then set to be flown to The Hague on orders of the ICC.

The petitioners asked the high court to restrain and prohibit the respondents from allowing entry, facilitating or in any manner cooperating with the ICC, its investigators and prosecutors in the conduct of any investigation related to the Philippine government’s anti-drug campaign. 

The petitioners also wanted the respondents to be prohibited from assisting in the enforcement of any warrant of arrest, summons or request issued by the ICC.

“And if already arrested, for the Honorable Court (to) order that the petitioners or any other individuals in connection with the ICC’s investigation be immediately released,” the petition read.

Asked whether the SC could still grant the TRO, SC spokesperson Camille Ting said “it is still a possibility.”

Habeas corpus

Meanwhile, Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte and his half-sister Veronica Duterte both went to the SC yesterday morning to file separate petitions for habeas corpus.

Sebastian, through his counsel Marie Dinah Tolentino-Fuentes, filed a 32-page urgent petition for habeas corpus, while Veronica, through her lawyers Salvador Panelo and his son Salvador Paolo Panelo Jr., submitted a 15-pager.

Both Duterte siblings named Bersamin, Crispin Remulla, Marbil and Torre III as respondents.

Sebastian also included as respondents Jonvic Remulla, Guevarra, Manalo, Brawner, Tansingco, Philippine Center for Transnational Crime executive director Lieutenant Antonio Alcantara and Captain Johnny Gulla.

In his petition, Sebastian claimed that there was no proper and adequate service of summons to former president Duterte, since he was only shown a photograph of an alleged warrant and not an official and sealed physical copy of the arrest warrant.

The former president was also allegedly subjected to “inhumane treatment” because although he reportedly had a scheduled medical check-up, he was not allowed to see his doctors and relatives.

In her petition, Veronica said her father “is currently detained and restrained of his liberty on an airplane bound for The Hague. These facts are admitted by the Philippine government, as shown in the attached PCO (Presidential Communications Office) statement and the press conference of President Marcos. The airplane appears to remain under the control of the Philippine government.”

The SC said it has conducted a special raffle on the two petitions for habeas corpus.

Exercise in futility

Even if the SC had granted the TRO, the ICC cannot be compelled to return Duterte to the Philippines, lawyer Ruben Carranza of the International Center for Transitional Justice said in an interview with ANC yesterday.

“There have been other heads of states or former presidents who have been arrested using a warrant of arrest from the ICC, so the temporary restraining order from the Supreme Court will not be something the ICC is bound to have to obey and then return Rodrigo Duterte. It might benefit other persons who might potentially be the subject of another warrant of arrest, but not Rodrigo Duterte,” Carranza said.

“We only restrain something that has not been done and then while there is something called an injunction, sort of trying to erase what has happened, in this situation, there was nothing wrong with what happened,” he noted.

“The arrest was legal, the arrest was based on the authority of the International Criminal Court. The Philippine government cooperated with the arrest. Was it duty-bound to cooperate? No, in the sense that it already withdrew but there is no obstacle, in fact, to a state that has withdrawn from the ICC to continue to cooperate, so it has happened before,” he explained further.

Carranza added that it happened in countries where the ICC has been involved.

“Filipinos should understand that this is not a set of exceptional circumstances in the Philippines,” he noted.

According to him, President Marcos chose to cooperate with the Interpol despite not being duty bound to participate in arresting Duterte.

“He could have ordered the Philippine National Police, other law enforcement agencies to not cooperate and that he has kept saying months ago, years ago, as soon as he became the president and he only changed his mind as everyone in the Philippines knows because the two families are fighting over plunder and murder and therefore they decided to fight each other,” Carranza said.

Carranza said that even if the Philippines has withdrawn from the ICC, it has the residual obligation not to defeat the purpose of the ICC itself.

“There is an existing agreement between the Interpol, as an international agency, and the ICC. That agreement requires to send notices to countries that are members of Interpol of arrest warrant or summons issued by the ICC, so that happens and that has been done in other countries as well,” he said.

He maintained that the procedure for arresting a person that is subject of a warrant of arrest from the ICC was followed.

“The Rome Treaty that created the ICC has very specific steps involving different circumstances and this is one of those circumstances. When a person is in another country, even if that country is no longer a party to the ICC, there is a way of serving a warrant of arrest and that was how it was done,” Carranza noted.

Asked to comment on the appeal for writ of habeas corpus, Palace press officer Claire Castro said the move by the Duterte camp might be too late.

“Only the Supreme Court can say that, but normally, when the person is already in another country and has been brought there, the issue becomes moot and academic,” she said at a press briefing in Malacañang.

“But that still depends on the Supreme Court. We cannot preempt what the Supreme Court’s decision will be,” she added. – Bella Cariaso, Helen Flores