Pangilinan: SC extradition rules won’t apply to ICC

Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan on Wednesday said the Supreme Court (SC)’s recently approved rules on extradition would not apply to the International Criminal Court (ICC) as it does not qualify as a “state.”

Pangilinan cited the explanation of the SC court administrator during the Senate’s plenary debates on the proposed budget of the judiciary.

During the plenary deliberations, Senator Rodante Marcoleta said the rules refer to a “requesting state” with which the Philippines has an extradition treaty. He then asked Pangilinan, the sponsor of the judiciary’s proposed budget, if the rules still apply for international tribunals like the ICC.

“Strictly speaking no, because the ICC is not a state,” Pangilinan replied.

Marcoleta then asked which should prevail: the 1987 Constitution or the ICC.

“As earlier manifested by the court administrator, the extradition rules do not apply to the ICC, but there may be other international conventions or agreements that the Philippines is party to that may apply,” Pangilinan said.

“But again, they have not identified which of these conventions, if any, would be applicable,” he added.

Earlier, the SC approved the rules on the extradition of any individual in the country who are facing criminal investigation or for the execution of a penalty abroad.

It defined an extradition as the “removal of an extraditee from the Philippines with the object of placing them at the disposal of foreign authorities to enable the Requesting State to hold the extradite.”

Meanwhile, an extraditee is “any person who is, or is suspected of being, within the territory of the Philippines and whose extradition, or provisional arrest for the purpose of extradition is requested by the requesting state.” 

Similarly, Senator Robin Padilla asked if the Philippine government would be liable if it does not surrender Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, who is allegedly facing an arrest warrant issued by the ICC.

Pangilinan raised the rule on sub judice in responding to Padilla’s interpellation.

“Merong limitasyon ang ating mga justice ng Korte Suprema na kapag ang isang kaso ay pending at merong petisyon ang ating kasamahan before the SC ay dahil sa sub judice ruling ay hindi po sila maaring pahayag o opinyon sa labas ng kaso mismo,” Pangilinan said.

(Our Supreme Court justices have a limitation, if a case is pending and there is a petition of our colleagues before the SC, they can no longer issue statements or opinions on the case because of the sub judice ruling.)

For their part, Dela Rosa’s camp previously said they have yet to receive any official confirmation that such a warrant exists.

On Tuesday, the SC denied Dela Rosa’s motion to compel Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla to submit a copy of the alleged warrant.

Though there is no known case lodged against the senator in the ICC, former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV previously said that Dela Rosa and four other former ranking police officials have been tagged as suspects in the ICC probe into the war on drugs.

Dela Rosa served as the chief of the Philippine National Police during the implementation of the drug war during President Rodrigo Duterte’s term.

Based on government records, around 6,200 drug suspects were killed during the Duterte administration’s anti-drug operations. Human rights organizations, however, say that the number may reach 30,000 due to the unreported related slays. — JMA, GMA Integrated News