To the ICC and all destabilizers, good riddance
THEY messed with the wrong president. After a series of attacks from various neoliberal creations, such as the International Criminal Court (ICC), President Rodrigo Duterte declared in no uncertain terms that he has had enough and that the Philippines was withdrawing from the ICC.
It’s a strong display of political courage and classic nationalism from Duterte. No other Philippine president would have had the gall to do this, prioritizing the country’s interests over that of the amorphous “international community”.
Some oppositionists are actually embarrassed by Duterte’s withdrawal from the ICC. This is ludicrous and they should do more research. The country that they most admire and one of the early supporters of the ICC, the United States of America, left the Court in 2002.
Actually, we should celebrate our liberation from the ICC, which is an abomination, an attack on any country’s sovereignty and right to determine its own destiny. We have a plethora of laws that addresses and penalizes the same crimes that the ICC says it wants to prosecute.
We also have a functioning judicial system and the ICC violated its own principle of complementarity by investigating the Philippines. (This rule states that the ICC can only investigate and prosecute international crimes when local courts are unable or unwilling to do so.)
To those still not convinced especially the Filipino-Americans who read only the New York Times and other Western media: ask yourselves, why did the US withdraw from the ICC? Is it not to protect American leaders and citizens, especially the members of its military who are actively participating in several wars around the world?
The US was looking after its own interests which is why all US Presidents from Bill Clinton to George Bush to Barack Obama chose not to ratify the Rome Statute. In fact, the Bush administration even sent a letter to the United Nations to formally withdraw its signature from the Rome Statute. (Read details in my earlier column, “Philippines should do a US and withdraw from the ICC,” February 14, 2018).
The Duterte administration has already drafted a 15-page statement signifying its intent to leave the ICC and explaining its reasons for doing so. It should forward this letter to the ICC and the United Nations immediately.
Malacañang said that it does not need the consent of the Senate in order to withdraw from the Rome Statute, which was ratified by the Upper Chamber in 2011 during the Aquino administration.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, who worked as a human rights lawyer, said there is nothing in the Constitution that says the executive needs to consult the Senate when withdrawing from a treaty. “There is no obligation to do so,” Roque said. “This is a decision to be made by the President as chief architect of foreign policy.”
ICC officials are likely regretting the day they took seriously the allegations of self-confessed murderer Edgar Matobato, whose lawyer Jude Sabio filed a complaint at the Hague, Netherlands, accusing President Duterte of crimes against humanity after he launched an effective campaign against illegal drugs.
Really now, filing a case against the first Philippine president to take a serious stand against drug cartels and criminals? Matobato and Sabio must be living in la-la land if they think they can convince Filipinos – who have seen firsthand how drugs beget crime – that killing armed drug lords is a bad thing. Why do you think Duterte has an 80 percent trust and approval rating? We like it that he is cleaning the streets of drug pushers, dealers, users, and other criminals.
The case at the ICC is an obvious hatchet job designed to destroy the reputation of Duterte. Matobato was backed by none other than Senator Antonio Trillanes, who has long sought to destabilize the Philippines with his multiple attempts at coup d’etat. Recently, a Pasay city prosecutor said that there is enough evidence to charge Trillanes with inciting to sedition and we dearly hope this case will prosper.
Roque expects other countries in the world to follow the Philippines in leaving the ICC, pointing out that the country was very active previously in convincing other nations to join the criminal court.
Only 124 out of 195 countries in the world are members of the ICC. Among those who are not a party to the Rome Statute establishing the ICC are the US, Russia, China, Israel, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and many more from the ASEAN and the Middle East. Three African countries have already withdrawn from the ICC, Burundi, South Africa and Gambia.
Interestingly, ICC prosecutor of Fatou Bensouda, who is conducting the preliminary examination on the Philippines war against drugs, is from Gambia. Her country’s information minister said the ICC only existed to “persecute and humiliate” people from the African continent. Indeed, the ICC has been called a racist neocolonial creation, a new way for the global elite to control weaker nations.
The ICC has allowed itself to be used as a tool for political persecution with President Duterte’s trial by publicity still ongoing. But this round goes to Duterte for throwing away Matobato and Trillanes’ weapon that was the ICC. Good riddance.