Palace predicts ICC junking of motion to probe PHL's war on drugs

Malacañang said Sunday that the International Criminal Court will also decide to dismiss, for lack of jurisdiction, a motion urging the court to determine whether it is in the position to investigate complaints arising from the Philippines war on drugs.

In a statement, Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said the Palace expects ICC's decision on rights violation complaints would be consistent with its ruling on the suit lodged by ex-Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario and former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales against China's President Xi Jinping, and other Chinese officials.

"Dismissal for lack of jurisdiction" is the logical end to the ICC's preliminary examination on the merits of the move to investigate the country's war on drugs.

"As regards the ICC's announcement that it will soon finalize the preliminary examination on whether to open an investigation into ... the campaign against illegal drugs, its decision thereon should be consistent with its order on the Morales-del Rosario communication, that is to say, the ICC also has also no jurisdiction over it," Panelo said.

"Stated differently, the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC should likewise rule that the preconditions for their court's exercise of jurisdiction over the matter have not been met."

He reiterated that "While the Philippines may have been a signatory to the Rome Statute, its membership did not place it under the jurisdiction of the ICC because the law that created it did not comply with the publication requirement to pass the due process test imposed by our Constitution, especially because the instrument is penal in nature."

"A contrary interpretation would be antithetical to the demands of due process, constitutionally protected under our Bill of Rights. Hence, the ICC never acquired jurisdiction over Philippines, the latter’s membership thereat being void initio. Necessarily, it did not give birth to any legal effect," he pointed out.

Moreover, he reiterated that false allegations of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines do not fall within the ICC’s definition of crimes against humanity.

Panelo stood firm for the Palace's earlier assertion that the deaths of drug suspects occurred in the course of legitimate police operations, and that the criminals subjected to enforcement activities resort to violence that imperil the lives and limbs of the police officers.

He also pointed pointed out that "admissibility of any case before the ICC must also pass the test of complementarity," meaning, the Philippines "should first be unable or unwilling to prosecute the alleged crimes against humanity in our jurisdiction."

"There is no evidence that this administration is unable or unwilling to prosecute crimes against humanity," he said.

The Philippines as an independent State, through its duly constituted authorities, must not be waylaid by any force, internal or external, in going about its task of serving and protecting the Filipino people.

"Any resort therefore to a foreign tribunal relative to the management of our country's state policies is utter disrespect, and any complainant who does it who is a citizen of the Republic, is an infidel to the sovereign aspirations of this Republic," Panelo added.

In early October this year, the National Union of Peoples' Lawyers (NUPL) submitted a 16-page supplemental pleading to ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda its second follow-up filing since lodging a complaint before the Hague-based court last year.

It asked the prosecutor to admit as evidence official figures on deaths in drug-related police operations, which the group alleged were "manipulated" by the Philippine National Police  to cover actual statistics and "shield the perpetrators." —LBG, GMA News