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BATO DARES ICC ‘I am here, arrest me!’
By: Ann JEnireene Gomez and Alvin Murcia With GLEN JACOB JOSE, Tiziana Celine Piatos AND JOM GARNER, Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa warned of “big trouble” if the International Criminal Court comes to the Philippines to arrest him or anyone else. “I already expected that, their insistence on meddling in our domestic affairs. Let them, let them do what they want,” Dela Rosa said in Filipino in an interview with Frontline Tonight. “I’ll be here, I am not hiding. If they have a warrant of arrest, let them serve the warrant,” Dela Rosa said, with one caveat — that he’ll only allow himself to be arrested by Philippine authorities and not by any foreigner ordered to do so by the ICC. Dela Rosa was responding to a statement of Senate President Miguel Zubiri that the government will have no choice but to turn over anyone to the ICC if the arrest warrant will be coursed through local courts and will be served by local authorities. “We are still a sovereign country, and they (accused) are still citizens of this country. They do that with many other countries. However, the danger there is if Senator Bato dela Rosa goes to a country that is friendly to the ICC, then they will arrest him. Here in the Philippines, the process is they must coordinate with the local courts,” Zubiri said. The ICC’s Appeals Chamber voted 3-2 on Tuesday to deny the Philippines’ appeal to stop the ICC Office of the Prosecutor from resuming its investigation. “There’s no problem if the Philippine government would be the one to arrest me, but not the foreigners,” he said. “If it’s the government of the Philippines that would decide to arrest me, what can I do? But if they (ICC) would come here to take me, our government would have none of that.” “There’s going to be big trouble if they would insist on coming here against our government’s expressed will. That would be too blatant an interference and they would be treating us like fools,” he added. Chill Meanwhile, Senator Francis Tolentino, who offered to stand as legal counsel for a fellow lawmaker in the ICC probe, advised Dela Rosa to “Just chill”. “I accept the proposal of Sen. Dela Rosa to a lawyer for him. I am now speaking as the counsel for Senator Dela Rosa,” said Tolentino, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, in an online press conference yesterday. He said nothing has changed in the Philippines’ position on the dismissal of the ICC Pre-Chamber in the country’s appeal regarding the probe of the “war on drugs.” The ICC, he added, has no jurisdiction in the Philippines. Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on Wednesday advised former president Rodrigo Duterte and Dela Rosa to stay away from countries where the ICC has influence. Dela Rosa is accused of implementing the alleged iron-fist policy of Duterte as a Davao regional police official and later as Duterte’s first Philippine National Police chief in 2016. “They are citizens of the republic who also need our protection,” Remulla said, adding that Duterte and Dela Rosa should refrain from going to countries in Europe. Why Sara? But even before Remulla came out with his advice, Dela Rosa had already said he would not deliver himself to the ICC. “I will make sure not to go to those countries that are friendly with the ICC,” he said. He also brushed aside efforts to involve Vice President Sara Duterte in the ICC probe, calling the move politically motivated against one who could become the country’s next president. He reiterated that the Vice President’s name was never mentioned in proceedings that looked into the alleged activities of the so-called Davao Death Squad. On Wednesday, the Department of Justice maintained that the ICC has no jurisdiction to investigate the extrajudicial killings allegedly committed during the Duterte administration’s so-called war on drugs. The DoJ expressed deep disappointment and strong disagreement with the denial by the ICC of the Office of the Solicitor General’s appeal to stop the probe on account of the Philippines having withdrawn from the ICC, and its having a fully functioning justice system. It said the rejection of the appeal was based on the ICC’s flawed interpretation of its jurisdiction as a court of last resort — that it could only assume jurisdiction when a member country showed it was not capable of investigating and prosecuting crimes within its borders. The DoJ pointed out that the principle of complementarity, enshrined in the Rome Statute that created the ICC, recognizes the jurisdiction of local courts to try crimes within their respective countries. “The dissenting opinions of two esteemed justices out of the five-judge panel highlight the grave errors in the majority decision,” the DoJ said in a statement. “These dissenting justices rightly recognized the Philippines’ commitment to upholding the rule of law and maintaining an independent and effective legal system.” “Their dissenting opinions underscore the existence of a legitimate difference of legal interpretation, casting doubt on the majority’s ruling,” it added. Remulla had lambasted the ICC for meddling in Philippine affairs and said the government would not honor any arrest warrant issued by the ICC. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his predecessor, Duterte, had been firm in saying the ICC had no jurisdiction over events that transpired in the Philippines. PNP no ICC lackey Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police said it would not be dictated to by the ICC as it recognizes the stance of the government that the international tribunal has no jurisdiction over the conduct of the drug war probe. “The PNP is under the executive department and we will follow the lead of the national government that there is a question with respect to sovereignty and jurisdiction of the ICC,” PNP spokesperson P/Col. Jean Fajardo said. Duterte, as Davao City mayor from 2011 to 2016 and as the country’s president from 2016 to 2022, is seen as the ICC prosecutor’s primary target, along with his former police chief, Dela Rosa. Government data showed that about 6,200 people died in “legitimate” anti-drug operations during the Duterte presidency, including law enforcement officers killed in action. Government critics claim as many as 15,000 to 30,000 were killed. Meanwhile, Vice President Duterte appeared to have been included in the complaints filed with the ICC prosecutor, along with her father’s long-time aide, the now Senator Christopher “Bong” Go. “No comment,” was the terse reply of the Vice President’s camp on her alleged inclusion in the ICC complaints. Go, on the other hand, said the ICC had no “business meddling in our internal affairs, where our courts remain fully functional and free from political interference.” “Probes into the war on drugs are presently being conducted by the competent authorities. Filipinos should be judged by fellow Filipinos before Philippine courts operating under Philippine laws,” Go said. With the ICC ruling, the DoJ vowed to continue to defend the sovereignty and integrity of the nation’s legal system and strongly urged the ICC to reconsider its decision and recognize the Philippines’ unwavering commitment to the rule of law and the pursuit of justice. “Furthermore, we would like to take this opportunity to reiterate our commitment to the well-being and support of all victims affected by the drug war,” Remulla’s department said. “The DoJ, in collaboration with other relevant agencies, is willing and able to assist those who had suffered harm or loss during this challenging period. We encourage all individuals with evidence and witnesses to come forward and share their testimonies with us,” it added. Former president Duterte, through his former spokesperson Harry Roque, shrugged off the ICC decision. In a Facebook post, Roque said Duterte has always maintained that as an independent and sovereign state, only Philippine courts can try any crime committed in Philippine territory. “He has time and again said that because of this, he will face all his accusers anytime but before Philippine courts and before Filipino judges only,” Roque said. In a television interview, Zubiri said the upper chamber would “not give up” Dela Rosa should the ICC issue a warrant of arrest against the latter. “Without the local warrant of arrest issued by the courts, then as far as I’m concerned, he is still a working member of the Senate and accorded of course that respect, similar to Senator De Lima and Senator [Antonio] Trillanes,” he said. “Only when the warrant of arrest was issued, then we allowed or we agreed that he may be taken in custody,” he added. The post BATO DARES ICC ‘I am here, arrest me!’ appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Credibility challenge
International Criminal Court probers will continue to be barred from the Philippines because the government has a responsibility to the nation not to let them in. Assistant Solicitor General Justice Angelita Miranda said the core issue in the government’s defiance of the ICC’s effort to investigate the drug war is about defending sovereignty. “While we adhere to international laws, the Philippines has a functioning judiciary and the ICC should respect that,” Miranda said on the weekly Daily Tribune program, Straight Talk. International lawyers have said that the principle of complementarity compels the ICC not to interfere in the judicial processes of the country. Through the maneuverings of the opponents of former President Rodrigo Duterte, led by destabilizer Antonio Trillanes IV, the ICC was provided with an alibi to probe the anti-narcotics campaign. Trillanes’ henchman, Gary Alejano, filed a haphazard impeachment complaint against Duterte in 2017, shortly after the destabilizer’s pawn, lawyer Jude Sabio, filed the crimes against humanity complaint with the ICC against the then president. Alejano knew that the impeachment case would not prosper but that was part of the grand scheme of Trillanes to activate an ICC investigation. The president could only be removed through impeachment and proving that the process would not prosper gave the excuse that legal remedies to run after Duterte had been exhausted, opening an opportunity for ICC to enter the picture. Miranda said she supports Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla when he says he will personally meet the ICC prosecutor when he lands in the country and escort him back to where he came from. Sabio’s petition to the ICC was the product of figures concocted by the political foes of Duterte such as on the existence of the Davao Death Squad during his term as Davao City mayor and the alleged 20,000 deaths linked to the anti-narcotics campaign. Proof of the partisan nature of the complaint lodged with the ICC was very evident, yet the tribunal took it upon itself to still pursue the preliminary examination despite Sabio’s withdrawal of the charges after admitting it was a Trillanes operation. Sabio came out in the open after a dispute over his retainer with Trillanes. In 2019, after ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda started her preliminary examination of the crimes against humanity complaint, the Philippines completed its withdrawal from the 1998 Rome Statute which created the international court. Despite the country’s pullout, the prosecutor pointed out that the ICC retained jurisdiction over crimes committed in the Philippines between 2011 and 2019 when it was still a member of the ICC. The inconsolable enemies of Duterte then challenged the disengagement before the Supreme Court which issued a decision siding with the then president as the chief architect of foreign policy. The filing of the ICC case in April 2017 was primarily intended to deflect a determined campaign against drug syndicates but it resulted in the probe of the drug network in the New Bilibid Prison that led to the detention of Senator Leila de Lima, who was justice secretary when the shabu factory in the maximum security prison flourished. The evidence against Duterte and various personalities that the ICC associated with the drug war relied mainly on the testimonies of Arturo Lascañas and Edgar Matobato, who were characters in Trillanes’ stable. Various probes, including Senate inquiries, proved that the revelations of both were a canard as they were drawn from the myth surrounding Duterte. Initially dug up were the supposed vigilante killings when the president was Davao City mayor. The yarn was proven to be without proof in investigations conducted by the Senate. The partisan aim of the Sabio complaint was evident after it hauled practically the entire officialdom of the Duterte administration in the insane petition. Along with the president in the complaint were then Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre, Philippine National Police chief Ronald de la Rosa, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, former Interior Secretary Ismael Sueño, National Bureau of Investigation Director Dante Gierran, and Solicitor General Jose Calida. Even Senator Richard Gordon was included for coming out with a Senate report that threw out the testimony of Trillanes factotum Matobato. The investigations debunked allegations that the extrajudicial killings were state-sponsored. The Palace labeled the allegations as mere vicious noises in the futile campaign to oust Duterte which was its real intention. The plot of the hypocrites now is to brand the Marcos administration as shielding Duterte from prosecution which will not find favor among Filipinos who entrust their overwhelming confidence to both leaders. In contrast, the ICC is trying to shore up its credibility by going after the Philippines. The post Credibility challenge appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
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