President Rodrigo Duterte recently announce the Philippine’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute. A move that will make the Philippines a non-party to the International Criminal Court (ICC). President Duterte cited very real and disturbing reasons for the Philippines withdrawal. The gist of the reason is because of the politicization of the ICC and how it has allowed itself to be used as a tool by a rabid political opposition backed by money interest both domestic and abroad. Our withdrawal from the Rome Statute was a very strong foreign policy decision and very much in line with the administration’s push for an independent foreign policy. In this post, I will outline why our withdrawal was a strong and justified assertion of our sovereignty.
The Rome Statute violates our constitution.
The Rome Statute was created for the purpose of establishing a permanent international tribunal to prosecute individuals accused of genocide and other serious international crimes, such as crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of aggression. This international treaty established the International Criminal Court which is tasked with the investigation and trial of those accused of international crimes. In short, the International Criminal Court is vested with judicial powers over all persons who are citizens of a state-party to the treaty. However, the Philippine constitution clearly states the following:
“ARTICLE VIII, SECTION 1. The judicial power shall be vested in one Supreme Court and in such lower courts as may be established by law.
Judicial power includes the duty of the courts of justice to settle actual controversies involving rights which are legally demandable and enforceable, and to determine whether or not there has been a grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction on the part of any branch or instrumentality of the Government.”
“ARTICLE II, SECTION 1. The Philippines is a democratic and republican State. Sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them.”
“ARTICLE II, SECTION 7. The State shall pursue an independent foreign policy. In its relations with other states the paramount consideration shall be national sovereignty, territorial integrity, national interest, and the right to self-determination.”
It is clear from the following provisions of our constitution that Judicial power resides in our domestic judiciary system but the International Criminal Court takes this away from our courts. In fact, the ICC puts itself on a pedestal by saying – your courts cannot handle this, we will take over. How could we allow a non-domestic institution that is not dully vested with any powers by our constitution, to usurp power from our judiciary? Signing the Rome Statute and being party to the ICC was a clear violation of Article II, Section 7 which states that the State shall pursue an independent foreign policy and that its relations with other states, the paramount consideration shall be national sovereignty, territorial integrity, national interest and the right to self-determination. Being party to the ICC violated this State principle. How can allowing the ICC usurp judicial powers from our courts be protection of our sovereignty? How can allowing the ICC to say our courts are not functioning be an act of determination? How can allowing the ICC to be used as a political tool by the Liberal party opposition to remove a dully elected President from office be respect for our national interest? Withdrawing from the Rome Statute was an act by the President in re-asserting these state principles enshrined in our constitution.
The President of the Philippines is immune from suit unless impeached.
“ARTICLE XI, SECTION 2. The President, the Vice-President, the Members of the Supreme Court, the Members of the Constitutional Commissions, and the Ombudsman may be removed from office, on impeachment for, and conviction of, culpable violation of the Constitution, treason, bribery, graft and corruption, other high crimes, or betrayal of public trust. All other public officers and employees may be removed from office as provided by law, but not by impeachment.
“SECTION 3. (1) The House of Representatives shall have the exclusive power to initiate all cases of impeachment.”
The International Criminal Court is conducting a preliminary investigation into a case filed against President Rodrigo Roa Duterte for possible crimes against humanity. A case that was filed by an unknown lawyer who was then backed by two Liberal Party attack dogs (Trillanes and Alejano). The ICC case was a clear political move by the Liberal Party opposition. They were the ones who made these outrageous allegations about the number of people who have fallen in the Drug War and the alleged existence of Extra Judicial killings. Trillanes and Delima have made numerous accusations against the President in public but have yet to provide any clear evidence of Extra Judicial killings. They have not even given our judicial system and our justice system to investigate these allegations. All they wan is for us to believe their allegations at face value and to immediately remove Duterte. To them, that is the only way they can say the wheels of justice in the Philippines is alive an well.
Since they could not get the public support for a massive effort to remove Duterte from office, they turned to the ICC. The problem with this move is that it is a clear violation of the Constitution. Our constitution clearly states that the President is immune from suit unless impeached by Congress. How could we allow our dully elected President to be subject to the ICC when our Constitution clearly gives the elected President constitutionally vested immunity and our dully elected representatives the sole constitutional mandate to remove such immunity. We never elected any of the judges in the ICC. We have nothing to do with them and they have nothing to do with us. Withdrawal from the ICC was a clear and justifiable assertion of our national integrity and our right to self-determination as an independent nation.
The Philippines is not alone.
The last point I want to make about our withdrawal from the ICC is the fact that being a non-state party to the Rome Statute is not a lonely decision for the Philippines. If you look at the list of those who have ratified the Rome Statute, you will notice that the Philippines is alone in the ASEAN region. Most of the members of the ASEAN are not party to the Rome Statute and the US, Russia, India and China (major international powers) did not ratify the Rome Statute.
It is clear that the ICC does not even have the support of most ASEAN countries and 4 major international powers. It is an institution grasping for relevance and our withdrawal from the ICC frees us from our unconstitutional responsibility to this imperialist institution.
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