SC denies De Lima plea to join oral arguments on ICC withdrawal

The Supreme Court (SC) has denied Senator Leila de Lima's bid to personally argue against the Philippines' withdrawal of its membership from the International Criminal Court.

Voting 10-2, the SC turned down the motion of De Lima, who is detained on drug charges, to attend and represent herself at next week's oral arguments for the petitions challenging the withdrawal, court spokesman Theodore Te said Tuesday.

Except for Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio and Associate Justice Francis Jardeleza, who voted in favor of the opposition senator, the SC "found no compelling reason" to have De Lima personally appear during the debate.

De Lima is one of the six senators who petitioned the High Court to declare "invalid or ineffective" Manila's pullout from the Rome Statute, the establishing treaty of the ICC, without the concurrence of at least two-thirds of the Senate, which ratified it in 2011.

In her manifestation with motion, De Lima claimed she could argue her case before the SC because the prohibition on members of Congress to appear before any court applies only when the lawmaker is doing so as counsel in a particular case.

"Likewise, this Honorable Court is respectfully asked to take judicial notice of its practice of permitting members of Congress to appear before it and argue their cases. The situation of Senator De Lima is not different from them," her motion said.

But Te said the SC held that De Lima's capacity to appear for herself "must yield" to her detention and that it does not seem that their cause against the ICC withdrawal would be "prejudiced by another counsel appearing in her place."

"The Court also noted that Senator De Lima, did not, at any time, plead circumstances or competencies exclusive to her which make her appearance, to the exclusion of her co-petitioners, imperative and indispensable," Te said.

President Rodrigo Duterte announced the country's withdrawal of its membership from the ICC in March, after an ICC prosecutor announced an examination of whether or not the ICC can investigate him for charges of crimes against humanity in connection with his administration's deadly crackdown on illegal drugs.

The lawmakers' pleading was consolidated with a similar challenge by the Philippine Coalition for the International Criminal Court.

Oral arguments for the petitions are scheduled on August 14.

De Lima has been arraigned for one of the cases against her before a Muntinlupa court over her alleged involvement in the New Bilibid Prison drug trade. She refused to enter a plea. As a matter of procedure, the court entered a "not guilty" plea for her.

She is detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame, Quezon City. De Lima has repeatedly denied any involvement in the illegal drug trade, saying she is a victim of political persecution under the Duterte administration. — RSJ, GMA News