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BAKA SA LANGIT NA MAG-APPEAL

Alvarez: Mental hospital, not ICC, has jurisdiction over rap vs. Duterte


House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez on Tuesday said the crime against humanity complaint filed against President Rodrigo Duterte was more fitting to be entertained at a mental institution than at the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC).

In an interview, Alvarez said the “complaint” filed by lawyer Jude Sabio, legal counsel of self-confessed hitman and Davao Death Squad member Edgar Matobato, should have been filed “at the mental hospital.”

Matobato had testified against President Duterte in a Senate inquiry, claiming that the then Davao City mayor was behind DDS-related killings.

Alvarez was reacting to the possibility of Magdalo Party-list Rep. Gary Alejano elevating his complaint against Duterte before the ICC, after the House committee on justice junked his impeachment plea against the President.

“[I]n the first place, walang jurisdiction ang ICC doon. Dapat sa mental hospital finile ‘yon. Merong jurisdiction ang mental hospital do’n,” he said.

“Hindi [ako worried] kasi para sa akin baseless, eh. So I don’t know. If the ICC is extension na ng mental hospital, puwede nilang dinggin ‘yon,” he added.

Alvarez said he would not be surprised if Alejano would next appeal his case "to the heavens" if he ever he also gets thumbed down at the ICC.

"Hindi ibig sabihin na kapag... iyong kanilang reklamo ay hindi na-address ay puwede na sila pumunta sa ICC. Pagkatapos doon, 'pag hindi pa din sila dininig eh baka sa langit na iyong kanilang appeal. Sa susunod, dun na sila magreklamo," he said.

In his complaint, Sabio said that Duterte "repeatedly, unchangingly and continuously" committed crimes against humanity and that under him, killing drug suspects and other criminals has become "best practice."

Alvarez, however, said the international court should not meddle  with the spate of killings related to the administration’s war against drugs.

The Speaker said the matter is “an internal matter, which I don’t think makialam dapat ‘yung ICC.”

“Mas maraming malalaking kaso ang dapat nilang pakialaman, hindi itong internal matter na ina-address natin ang sarili nating problema,” he said.

Sabio's complaint was the first publicly known communication to the ICC against Duterte, and is based on the testimony of Matobato and retired policeman Arturo Lascanas, reports from rights groups and media reports, including a Reuters series on the killings.

The complaint alleges that Duterte and at least 11 senior government officials are liable for murder and calls for an investigation, arrest warrants and a trial.

Sabio also included in the complaint top officials of the government, including Alvarez, for allegedly contributing, in one way or another, to the commission or attempted commission of a crime. — MDM, GMA News

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