Detained Senator Leila M. De Lima has asked the Supreme Court (SC) to allow her “to personally appear and represent herself” in the oral arguments on the petition seeking to declare unconstitutional and invalid the country’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
According to her four-page motion dated June 25 and released to media on Wednesday, “the Rules of Court expressly allows a litigant to personally prosecute his or her case.”
Senator De Lima, a vocal critic of Mr. Duterte’s administration, surrendered herself to authorities on Feb. 24 last year over drug charges filed by the Department of Justice (DoJ).
The petition submitted on May 16 by Ms. De Lima and fellow opposition Senators Francis N. Pangilinan, Franklin M. Drilon, Paolo Benigno A. Aquino IV, Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel, and Antonio F. Trillanes IV challenged President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s withdrawal from the treaty as it did not go through Congress.
On March 16, the Philippines — through through Philippine Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr. — submitted before the international body its notice of withdrawal. This petition was in response to the ICC’s preliminary examination on alleged crimes against humanity committed under the drug war of Mr. Duterte’s administration.
A second petition, filed by non-government organization Philippine Coalition for the International Criminal Court, was submitted to the high court on June 13 using similar arguments.
According to a SC notice received by Ms. De Lima’s office on Wednesday, the court consolidated both petitions and pushed the oral arguments from July 24 to Aug. 7. — Dane Angelo Enerio

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