Palace confident ICC will dismiss case vs Duterte

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang is confident the International Criminal Court (ICC) will dismiss the complaint against President Duterte on the same basis of “lack of jurisdiction” as in the case of crime against humanity filed by former officials against Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“As regards the ICC’s announcement that it will soon finalize the preliminary examination on whether to open an investigation into the situation in the Philippines in relation to its campaign against illegal drugs, its decision thereon should be consistent with its order on the Morales-del Rosario communication, that is to say, the ICC also has no jurisdiction over it,” presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said, referring to former foreign affairs chief Albert del Rosario and former ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales.

The two officials filed the complaint with the ICC in a bid to hold Xi accountable for environmental degredation in the South China Sea, including Beijing’s building of artificial islands.

“Stated differently, the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC should likewise rule that the preconditions for their court’s exercise of jurisdiction over the matter have not been met,” Panelo added.

It is the Palace’s position that the Philippines is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, which created the ICC, because it failed to comply with the publication requirement under the Philippine Constitution.

 “As we have maintained earlier, while the Philippines may have been a signatory to the Rome Statute, its membership did not place it under the jurisdiction of the ICC because the law that created it did not comply with the publication requirement to pass the due process test imposed by our Constitution, especially because the instrument is penal in nature,” he said.

If the ICC would release a “contrary” interpretation, Panelo said it would be a violation of due process.

“A contrary interpretation would be antithetical to the demands of due process, constitutionally protected under our Bill of Rights. Hence, the ICC never acquired jurisdiction over Philippines, the latter’s membership thereat being void initio. Necessarily, it did not give birth to any legal effect,” he said.

Panelo defended anew Duterte’s drug war, saying that the alleged extrajudicial killings do not fall into the definition of crimes against humanity under the ICC’s mandate.

“We reiterate that the false allegations of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines do not fall within the ICC’s definition of crimes against humanity,” he said.

Panelo maintained that the Duterte administration “does not sanction nor condone any unlawful act resulting in the loss of lives.”

“Neither does it allow any widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population,” he said.

“Deaths occurring in the course of legitimate police operations come about because the criminal suspects subject of these law enforcement activities resort to violence that imperil the lives and limbs of the police officers,” he pointed out.