Proposed withdrawal from IPU premature, Lacson points out
MANILA, Philippines — Senators have opposing opinions on the recommendation of House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to withdraw the country's membership from the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
The speaker made the suggestion after the group of global lawmakers reportedly reiterated its call on Philippine authorities to release Sen. Leila de Lima and expressed concern over the revival of cases against Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.
Echoing Malacañang's accusation that the IPU is meddling in the country's domestic affairs, Senate President Vicente "Tito" Sotto III reminded the organization's human rights committee that the Philippines is a sovereign state with a working judicial process.
Sotto said he is inclined to support Arroyo's proposal to withdraw the Philippines' membership from the IPU but he would have to consult his fellow senators first.
Lacson: Withdrawal would be premature
Sen. Panfilo Lacson said Arroyo's recommendation was based on the wrong premise as the IPU has yet to act on the recommendations of its human rights committee.
"The supposed 'IPU-adopted resolutions,' at least at this time, are mere recommendations of the IPU's Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians to the Governing Council of the IPU, which has yet to forward the same to the plenary for adoption by the member parliamentarians," Lacson said in a statement.
"We believe we should correct the inaccuracies in the interpretation by Sen. de Lima's camp of the facts, deliberate or otherwise," he also said.
Lacson also pointed out that it is the Senate and not the House of Representatives that is a member of the IPU.
"Second, by withdrawing, it would imply that the Philippine Senate acknowledges the political persecution of opposition senators," Lacson said.
Lacson also noted that the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 148's recent resolution on the case of Trillanes shows that the judicial process works in the country.
On Monday, the court released its resolution denying the plea of the Department of Justice for an arrest warrant against Trillanes.
Judge Andres Soriano said the court “finds and so holds that Trillanes did file his amnesty application in the prescribed form in which he also admitted guilt for his participation in the Oakwood Mutiny, among others, and in which he further recanted all previous statements that he may have made contrary to said admission.”
'Admission of guilt'
Withdrawing the country's membership from the IPU would serve as a "virtul admission of guilt" from the Duterte administration, Sen. Risa Hontiveros said.
"It only confirms the IPU's serious concerns about our country's worsening human rights record," Hontiveros said in a statement released Tuesday.
Such move would only defend the country's culture of killing and impunity, the opposition senator added.
"If this goes on, the way it's going, the Philippines will soon run out of intergovernmental bodies that it can be part of," Hontiveros said, noting the country's earlier withdrawal from the International Criminal Court.
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