GMA to campaign for Miriam in ICJ bid during New York visit

SAN FRANCISCO, California (via PLDT) — President Arroyo will campaign for Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s candidacy for a seat in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of the United Nations when she visits New York on Wednesday, officials said.

Ambassador and Presidential Assistant for State and Foreign Visits Marciano Paynor Jr., who is also the Philippine Consul General here, said Mrs. Arroyo is set to meet with UN Permanent Representatives from various countries later this week to convince them to vote for Santiago, the Philippine nominee for the ICJ.

Santiago is currently the chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

“Definitely we have votes but they are not yet shall we say, we don’t have the position in the bag. That’s why we are trying to talk to them some more,” Paynor said.

When asked of Santiago’s chances to be named to the world court, he said: “It’s very difficult to say because usually you talk about a whole lot of membership in the United Nations and sometimes of course they will vote etc. but unless they say it in writing and ask for a quid pro quo.”

Five seats in the ICJ will be available on Feb. 5, 2009 and elections will be held at the UN in New York later this year. A candidate needs to get at least a majority vote in both the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council, voting simultaneously but separately.

Mrs. Arroyo arrived here at around 7:20 p.m. Saturday (10:20 a.m. Sunday, Manila time) for a 10-day working visit to the United States. She is scheduled to meet with US President George W. Bush at the White House as well as other top officials and business groups.

She is also scheduled to meet with Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate John McCain. Her first public engagement would be in Fresno, California on Sunday morning to meet with members of the Filipino community.

Mrs. Arroyo announced Santiago’s nomination to the 15-seat ICJ during a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in July last year.

Santiago was nominated by the Philippine National Group composed of Supreme Court Associate Justice Consuelo Ynares Santiago, retired Supreme Court associate justice Florentino Feliciano, then Integrated Bar of the Philippines National President Jose Vicente Salazar, and University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law Dean Alfredo Benipayo.

Chief Justice Reynato Puno, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, the Philippine Bar Association, The Philippine Women Judges Association Inc., The Philippine Association of Law Schools and the Philippine Association of Law Professors, endorsed her candidacy.

Founded in 1945, the ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. The Court decides two types of cases: legal disputes between States submitted to Court or contentious cases, and requests for advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by the United Nations organs and specialized agencies or advisory opinions.