Senate minority’s opposition to ICC withdrawal questioned

MANILA, Philippines — Can opposition senators question the administration’s withdrawal of the country’s membership in the International Criminal Court (ICC) even without the backing of their colleagues in the Senate?

Magistrates of the Supreme Court (SC) raised this question yesterday in the continuation of the oral arguments on petitions seeking revocation of the withdrawal from ICC membership due to lack of concurrence from the Senate.

Associate Justices Marvic Leonen and Noel Tijam questioned the legal standing of the six minority senators – Francis Pangilinan, Franklin Drilon, Leila de Lima, Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, Antonio Trillanes IV and Risa Hontiveros – in filing the petition before the SC.

During interpellation, Leonen asked Pangilinan if they represent the position of the Senate as a collegial body.

Pangilinan cited Senate Resolution No. 286 expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the requirement of concurrence for the ICC membership withdrawal.

“May I know if this has been tabled for discussion in the Senate?” Leonen asked, to which Pangilinan replied: “The matter was not adopted by the Senate.”

During questioning, Pangilinan also admitted that Senate concurrence to ICC membership did not have a provision requiring concurrence in case of withdrawal – unlike in 17 other treaties.

Asked by Leonen why that was the case, the senator could not provide an answer.

Leonen then called the petitioners’ lawyer and former Akbayan party-list representative Barry Gutierrez to the podium to explain the legal standing of the senators.

“Their principle of basis for standing is in their capacity as senators of the republic,” the lawyer explained.

Tijam raised a similar question involving the collegial position of the Senate.

“Should this Court act favorably on the petition and compel the Senate to give its concurrence to the withdrawal? Will that not be interpreted as an intrusion on the powers of the Senate?” the magistrate stressed.

“Has the Senate asserted its authority to demand concurrence in the withdrawal from the Rome Statute?” Tijam asked, to which Gutierrez replied in the negative.

In his comment, Solicitor General Jose Calida said the opposition senators have no legal standing to file the case in the SC because of the lack of official stance of the Senate as a collegial body, due to the divided sentiments of the senators on the issue.