Chiz cites ‘impotence of Senate’

If a constitutional commission created by President Duterte wants to, a provision in a proposed new Constitution may empower the Senate to give its concurrence to any decision of the President of the Republic to withdraw from any international treaty it earlier ratified.

This was the view of Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero on the impotence of the Senate to give its imprimatur to a treaty withdrawal action by the President.

The Philippines had just notified the United Nations (UN) that the country was withdrawing from the Rome Statute following the decision of the International Criminal Court to begin preliminary investigation into the charges of committing crimes against humanity.

In a radio interview, Escudero said he has yet to see a copy of the withdrawal document submitted to the UN stating the formal reasons why the Philippines is withdrawing from the ICC.

Perhaps the commission headed by former Chief Justice Reynato Puno could recommend such an amendment to the 1987 Constitution that henceforth, the Senate should concur with the decision by the Executive branch to withdraw from a treaty, Escudero explained.

After all, the Senate, under the Constitution, is part of the ratification process, he pointed out.

The current Constitution states that it is only the President who can legally decide on foreign affairs matters and even this provision cannot be reviewed by the Supreme Court, he said.

Escudero said the current tenure of Raul Pangalanan, a Filipino judge in the ICC as replacement of the late Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, is now in danger as a result of Duterte’s decision to withdraw from the Philippines from the ICC.

One cannot be a judge in the ICC if your country is not a member of the Rome Statute, he said.