'Withdrawal from ICC won't stop preliminary examination'

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte's decision to pull the Philippines out of the International Criminal Court will not stop the preliminary examination of the alleged violations connected to the Duterte administration's war on illegal drugs.

 

Despite its intention to withdraw from the Rome Statute that created the ICC, Commission on Human Rights chairman Chito Gascon said the Philippine government should still cooperate in the preliminary examination being conducted by ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.

 

"(It) cannot be terminated by this withdrawal," he said, referring to the Rome Statute provision mandating parties to cooperate in processes initiated prior to the withdrawal.

 

"The government is grossly mistaken in believing that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over events in this country. What it must do is to show that it is willing and able to bring all perpetrators of human rights violations to justice," he added.

 

Gascon said the withdrawal from the treaty will be a setback to efforts for global jurisdiction and accountability.

 

"The Philippines has historically been at the forefront of advancing international justice and this move constitutes a reversal that will be viewed as encouraging impunity to continue," he said.

 

New York-based Human Rights Watch also said withdrawal from the treaty would not shut the door on Bensouda's examination of alleged abuses by the Philippine government.

 

"Those responsible for ICC crimes committed in the Philippines while the country is still a member could find themselves facing justice in The Hague," said HRW associate director for international justice program Param-Preet Singh, referring to the ICC's headquarters in the Netherlands.

 

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National Union of People's Lawyers president Edre Olalia described the decision as baseless and self-serving, noting that the reasons cited by Malacañang are "novel at best and skewed at worst."

 

He said "the bases and protocol for withdrawal are either premature, assumes a fact not established, conclusory or inapplicable."

 

He said "they are patently self-serving and unilaterally rearranges the cosmos of international law and its principles."

 

Olalia said the move jumps the gun on Duterte's possible legal liability or responsibility, saying the president "wants to be immune and act with impunity both under domestic law and under international law."

 

Former Akbayan Rep. Barry Gutierrez said the withdrawal from the ICC makes Duterte look guilty and "so very, very, very afraid."

 

He said the president "should get better lawyers. Withdrawal from the treaty takes effect a year from notice, and does affect jurisdiction over matters that arose while the treaty was in force."