‘PRESIDENT IS NOT RUNNING FROM ICC’
Spokesman Harry Roque defends President's decision to withdraw from ICC statute, says the latter could not take politicized court
President Rodrigo Duterte did not withdraw the Philippines’ membership in the International Criminal Court (ICC) to escape potential charges should the Hague-based court find legal basis to proceed with the preliminary investigation into alleged crimes committed in line with his anti-narcotics drive, Malacañang said on Thursday, March 15.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. defended the President’s decision to repeal the Philippines’ ratification of the Rome Statute, a treaty that established the ICC, saying that Duterte could no longer take the alleged “politicization” of his anti-drug war, and the “conspiracy” between the United Nations (UN) and “pressure groups” to humiliate him.
He believed that the President made the right decision to invalidate the ratification of the Rome Statute, as the ICC’s preliminary examination of the allegations against Duterte provides “political mileage” for the President’s fiercest critics.
“No, because if it pushes through, the President has not said that he will not cooperate,” Roque said, when asked if the President is trying to avoid accountability, once the ICC finds probable cause to investigate his drug war.
“First and foremost, we are not saying that we will not participate. What we’re saying is (the ICC) will not have juristidction over the President’s person,” he added.
ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda is conducting a preliminary examination of the allegations against Duterte.
The ICC’s initial review of the alleged human rights violations linked to the Philippines’ fight against illegal drugs was based on the communications lodged by lawyer Jude Sabio and supplemented by opposition lawmakers Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and Gary Alejano.
Roque said Bensouda should have instead “thrown (the communications) to a waste basket instantly.”
“It’s a proof that she (Bensouda) is politicking the President, most especially a politician filed [the communication before the ICC]. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that a case is poltiicized when a politician has filed it. It should have been thrown to a waste basket instantly,” he told a press conference.
“Even if preliminary examination is not an official part of court procedure yet, the President’s rival already have political mileage. That’s what we are saying - being politicized,” he added.
On Wednesday, March 14, Malacañang released Duterte’s unsigned statement about the Philippines’ “immediate” revocation of membership in the ICC.
According to Rome Statute’s Article 127, a member-state’s withdrawal will take effect a year after it notifies the Secretary General of the UN.
Duterte, however, disregarded the treaty’s provision, stressing that entering into such agreement “appears to be fraud.”
The decision was reached, as the firebrand President took a swipe at the UN’s alleged attempt to depict him as “ruthless and heartless violator of human rights,” and the ICC’s plan to have jurisdiction over him.
The UN, specifically its special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions Agnes Callamard, has asked the Philippine government to allow her official visit to the Philippines to investigate the reported spate of deaths of suspected drug personalities under the President’s war on drugs.
Apart from the alleged ICC’s “politicization” of Duterte’s drug war, Roque said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein’s recent remark that Duterte should take a psychiatric test also contributed to the President’s decision.
“It (ICC) is (independent) but the perception is it is somehow allied still with the United Nations. In fact, the withdrawal mechanism is deposited with the UN Secretary General,” the presidential spokesman said. /