Lacson urges SC to rule on petition on withdrawal of treaties

Senator Panfilo Lacson urged Friday the Supreme Court to rule on the petition of his colleagues seeking to declare as invalid or ineffective President Rodrigo Duterte’s withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC) without the consent of the Senate.

Lacson made the statement as he and other senators agree that Duterte can make true his threat to scrap the Visiting Forces Agreement if the United States will not reverse the cancellation of the visa of Senator Ronald dela Rosa.

“In the absence of a Supreme Court ruling on the President’s power to unilaterally break a treaty/bilateral agreement like the VFA without the consent of 2/3 supermajority vote of the Senate, I agree that the President can do that without the Senate’s approval or consent,” he said in a press statement.

“Having said that, the SC should act on the pending petition filed by a number of senators in this regard,” he added.

In 2018, six opposition senators have asked the high tribunal to declare the withdrawal "invalid or ineffective" without the concurrence of at least 2/3 of the Senate, which ratified the establishing treaty of the ICC, the Rome Statute, in 2011.

The petition has been submitted for decision but the SC has yet to issue a ruling on it.

Duterte decided to withdraw the country's membership from the ICC weeks after the latter announced it was reviewing allegations against the state leader in connection with his deadly crackdown on illegal drugs.

Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, one of the petitioners, agree that Duterte can make true his threat.

He said three years ago, he tried to pass a Senate resolution which required Senate concurrence on termination of treaties in  general. It was opposed by Senator Manny Pacquiao, and was not passed.

“Thus, while Senate rarification was needed to make the VFA valid, (which the Senate did during Erap presidency) it can now be terminated without concurrence of the Senate,”  the former justice secretary said.

Senator Aquilino Pimentel III said terminating the VFA can be done by the President as the chief implementor of Philippine foreign policy and, secondarily, as the commander in chief of the Armed Forces.

He added the reason stated by the President for terminating the VFA may sound "personal" but he sees the point of the latter.

“He believes Sen. Bato ( Dela Rosa’s nickname) is being punished by the US for having once been the implementor of his main program of government - the all out war against drugs. Since that is domestic policy then punishing someone (even if indirectly) for a domestic policy shows the intent to interfere by a foreign state with the Philippine domestic policy,” he said. —LDF, GMA News