{"id":156846,"date":"2018-03-16T04:04:21","date_gmt":"2018-03-16T08:04:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=156846"},"modified":"2018-03-16T04:04:21","modified_gmt":"2018-03-16T08:04:21","slug":"icc-lost-strongest-ally-in-asia-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/03\/16\/icc-lost-strongest-ally-in-asia-palace\/","title":{"rendered":"ICC lost strongest ally in Asia: Palace"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FILE<\/a>
FILE (Photo: ALBERT ALCAIN\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 With President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s decision to withdraw the Philippines\u2019 ratification of the Rome Statute treaty, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has lost its strongest ally in Asia, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said on Thursday.<\/p>\n

In a Palace briefing, Roque said ICC special prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has violated the principle of complementarity that prompted Duterte to withdraw from ICC.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of the violation committed by the prosecutor, the ICC has lost its strongest ally in Asia continent. So to the ICC, to the Assembly of State Parties, they only have to thank the prosecutor for the end of our dream to achieve universal ratification for the ICC,\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

Roque said the Philippines is one of the only three ICC members in Southeast Asia. Others are Cambodia and Timor-Leste.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that we are withdrawing, there is no other country that would convince Asian nations to join the ICC. This is the development that the prosecutor should have considered when she decided to embark on preliminary examination,\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy only hope is that this will not lead into an avalanche of countries wanting to get out from the ICC,\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

Roque admitted he was saddened by the country\u2019s withdrawal from ICC as he was the one who lobbied for Philippines membership into the ICC.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I agree with the President that we cannot set aside sovereignty,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Roque also agreed with Duterte that there is \u201cconcerted efforts\u201d to paint the President as ruthless and heartless violator of human rights for allegedly allowing extra-judicial killings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the statement, the President is convinced that there must be some kind of a conspiracy on the part of pressure groups and UN officials to shame him,\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

He said the ICC\u2019s plan to conduct preliminary\u00a0examination into the war on drugs has been politicized by the prosecutor through the help of lobby groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the same lobby groups who have successfully lobbied the Office of Prosecutor also to proceed at least with preliminary examination,\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

Roque said the lobby groups are composed of human rights groups that have a very strong lobby in the UN human rights bodies, including ICC.<\/p>\n

He said local political parties including what the so-called OSI (open society institute) composed of members former President Benigno Aquino III\u2019s Liberal Party have been taking advantage of the situation.<\/p>\n

Roque said the President will never recognize the ICC jurisdiction on his person because it will violate his right to due process since ICC\u2019s Rome Statute is not enforceable in the Philippines.<\/p>\n

He added the law was not published in the official gazette or a newspaper of general publication when the Philippines signed it on Dec. 28, 2000 and ratified by the Senate in August 2011.<\/p>\n

He denied ICC prosecutor\u2019s claim that the Philippines\u2019 courts are unable or unwilling to investigate the war on drugs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the Philippines, it is very clear that our courts are functional and nobody is above the law including a president,\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

Roque said the ICC can still pursue preliminary examination on war on drugs but the prosecutor has do it within one year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf she (prosecutor) would not proceed within one year in the preliminary investigation, the case or the preliminary examination that the prosecutor has started will be disregarded,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

He said even if a case will be filed against President, the ICC cannot order arrest \u201cunless the President will go to ICC and present himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe arrest of the President depends wholly on cooperation. I don\u2019t think the Philippines will ever surrender himself to the ICC,\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

Roque has downplayed the possible impact of the President\u2019s decision on the country\u2019s image, adding even big countries like United States, Russia, and China are not ICC members.<\/p>\n

He insisted the ICC prosecutor is \u201cto blame if ICC will become part of history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roque clarified the withdrawal from ICC does not need Senate\u2019s approval.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason why the Senate consent is not necessary is that the Constitution does not provide that it\u2019s necessary,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

He said President Duterte has instructed Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea to notify UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres about Duterte\u2019s decision through the Department of Foreign Affairs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 With President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s decision to withdraw the Philippines\u2019 ratification of the Rome Statute treaty, the International Criminal Court …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":143927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[6054,15359,3891,12477,4154,2444],"class_list":["post-156846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ph","tag-duterte","tag-harry-roque","tag-icc","tag-international-criminal-court","tag-palace","tag-rodrigo-duterte","mauthors-jelly-musico","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}