Palace on Duterte's arrest: Prerogative of gov't to comply with Interpol

It is the prerogative of the Philippine government to comply with its commitments with the Interpol, Malacañang stressed on Wednesday.

At a press briefing, Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Atty. Claire Castro was asked for comment on the statement of University of St. La Salle Bacolod College of Law Dean Ralph Sarmiento that the decision to cooperate with the ICC ''remains discretionary under Philippine law.''

She was asked about the assertion that it was within President Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr.'s power to prevent the arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte but he chose not to exercise that power.

''Very clear, it's the prerogative of the government so if it is the prerogative of the government to comply with the commitment with the Interpol, so that's it,'' Castro responded.

''This is not just surrendering a Filipino citizen, it is surrendering a Filipino citizen who is accused of crimes against humanity, specifically murder, so it would be a different story. So we have to comply with the law and give justice, either to the victims or to the accused,'' she added. 

''If the accused can say, 'I am not guilty, I can defend myself' then go on. It's also justice for him, that's due process. But if he is guilty, then we should also give justice to the victims,'' Castro said.

Castro further defended the Philippine government's move saying that the former chief executive was given due process and it was his camp that did not cooperate with the international body.

''They were given due process, sila po 'yung hindi tumugon, sila po 'yung hindi nakipagugnayan, natatandaan mo po dati sinabi din po ni Senator Bato [dela Rosa] na siya po ay nakakatanggap diumano ng notice. Pero hindi niya po tutugunan ito dahil di po siya sigurado at sa kanyang palagay po walang jurisdiction ang ICC,'' said Castro.

(They were given due process, they were the ones who did not respond, they were the ones who did not coordinate [with the ICC]. If you remember, Senator Bato mentioned before that he was receiving notices, however, he chose to ignore them because he thought the ICC has no jurisdiction over the Philippines.)

''Kung may nagkulang man po at sinasabing hindi sila nabigyan ng due process, sila po mismo ang tumalikod sa kanilang karapatan na madinig ng prosecutor patungkol sa kanilang mga ebidensya,'' she added.

(If there's someone who lacked action, it was them who chose to turn their backs from their right to be heard by the prosecutor.)

The Palace official also said what the government did was ''regular.''

''It is regular what we did, what the government did was regular, it is based on the law, based on our own law – RA 9851. If you will say that it is normal, I can say it is but this is the first time that we did this. So, if you did everything based on the law, I think there could be no question on that,'' Castro said.

Further, she said ''there’s no waiver yet of the rights of the state to still run after him if there are other complainants in the country,'' noting that they can still file cases against the former president.

''It’s just so happened that there is already pending case before the ICC, and we are just complying and enforcing RA 9851 especially Section 17 wherein that the... stating therein that instead the authorities may surrender or extradite suspected or accused persons in the Philippines to the appropriate international court if any or to any other state pursuant to the applicable extradition laws and treaties,'' she added.

Marcos earlier said Interpol Manila received an official copy of the ICC warrant hours before Duterte's arrival from Hong Kong on Tuesday. 

The President said the arrest was done "because Interpol asked us to do it and we have commitments." He also insisted that the arrest was proper and correct, wherein "every single necessary procedure" was followed. —VAL/RSJ, GMA Integrated News