Congressmen ask Marcos government to rejoin ICC
THE PHILIPPINES should rejoin the International Criminal Court (ICC) to ensure accountability for its leaders, congressmen said on Wednesday, a day after ex-President Rodrigo R. Duterte was arrested to stand trial before the Hague-based tribunal for crimes against humanity.
“We should really consider rejoining,” Deputy Majority Leader and La Union Rep. Francisco Paolo P. Ortega V said in a news briefing. “In case these kinds of problems happen again, we have a tool or a measuring stick.”
Mr. Duterte, 79, unilaterally withdrew the Philippines from the ICC’s founding treaty in 2019 when it started looking into allegations of systematic extrajudicial killings in connection with anti-illegal drug campaign.
He was flown by Philippine authorities to the Netherlands after the ICC ordered his arrest as part of its investigation of his bloody drug war that killed thousands.
Party-list Rep. Raul Angelo D. Bongalon said Mr. Duterte’s decision to pull away from the ICC was a “belated reaction” to its investigation into his bloody drug war, which led to 6,200 suspects being killed during anti-drug operations that they say ended in shootouts.
Human rights groups have said as many as 30,000 people might have died.
Rejoining the International Criminal Court would protect Filipinos, Mr. Bongalon said, adding that the government has a responsibility to safeguard its citizens.
“It’s for the protection of the people,” he told the same briefing. “And the state should… give protection to our people. One way of doing this is for us to rejoin the Rome Statute,” he said, referring to the treaty that established the ICC.
“If there is that initiative on the part of the administration, I would support it,” Assistant Majority Leader and Party-list Rep. Jude A. Acidre told the briefing, but noted that it would ultimately be up to the Senate to decide.
“The Senate is responsible for concurring with the treaties we accede to.”
The 1987 Philippine Constitution states that international agreements are not binding unless approved by at least two-thirds of the Senate.
The Senate ratified Philippine membership in the ICC in August 2011. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio
