ICC's legislative arm calls for dialogue with PHL gov’t

The legislative arm of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has urged a dialogue with the Philippine government after announcing its withdrawal from the international body.

"All States Parties have the opportunity to voice their concerns before the Assembly, and I call on the authorities of the Philippines to engage in dialogue in this regard," O-Gon Kwon, president of the international court's Assembly of States Parties, said in a statement released Friday.

The Philippines on Friday notified the United Nations of its decision to withdraw from the ICC.

In his statement, Kwon expressed concern over the decision and urged the Philippines to remain a member of the ICC.

"A State Party withdrawing from the Rome Statute would negatively impact our collective efforts towards fighting impunity," Kwon was quoted as saying.

"The ICC needs the strong support of the international community to ensure its effectiveness. I encourage the Philippines to remain as a party to the Rome Statute," he added.

Kwon noted that the Philippines has participated "actively" in the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute since becoming a State Party in 2011.

He also cited that the Philippines publicly reaffirmed its support for the principles of the Rome Statute and the Court oly in December of last year.

The Assembly of States Parties, comprised of representatives of States that have ratified and acceded to the Rome Statute, is the management oversight and legislative body of the ICC.

Kwon was elected the assembly's president for a three-year mandate in December 2017.

President Rodrigo Duterte said he is withdrawing the Philippines from the ICC because of the court's “baseless, unprecedented and outrageous attacks” against him and his administration and its alleged attempt of the ICC prosecutor to place him under the tribunal’s jurisdiction.

He declared the exit roughly a month after the ICC's Office of the Prosecutor announced that it would begin its preliminary examination on the alleged extrajudicial killings associated with the government’s intensified anti-illegal drugs campaign, which kicked off on July 1, 2016.

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo had maintained that the ICC cannot probe Duterte and his campaign against illegal drugs even if the complaint was filed prior to the announcement of withdrawal from the tribunal.

The President's top counsel argued that the court may only exercise jurisdiction if the country's courts are unable or unwilling to hear cases related to drug-related killings and that the war on drugs is a sovereign act.

The ICC's conduct of a preliminary examination was based on the communication made by lawyer Jude Sabio in April last year.

Sabio, the lawyer for self-confessed hitman Edgar Matobato, urged the ICC prosecutor to investigate Duterte and senior administration officials and bring charges of crimes against humanity against them.

Matobato had accused Duterte of forming a death squad in Davao City when he was still its mayor. —ALG, GMA News