Good luck on getting Philippines' cooperation, Palace tells ICC

MANILA, Philippines — The International Criminal Court should not expect any cooperation from the Philippines after it sent its notice of withdrawal from the Rome Statute, Malacañang said Monday.

 

Last Friday, the Philippines officially submitted its letter of withdrawal from the treaty that established the ICC. The withdrawal takes effect a year after the receipt of the notification.

 

The ICC, however, said that the decision of the Philippines to pull out from the Rome Statute would not stop the international court's preliminary examination of the human rights situation in the country.

 

"Good luck on obtaining the cooperation of the Philippines," Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque told the ICC of the country's treaty obligations.

 

Roque insisted that the ICC will never acquire jurisdiction over Duterte and given the limited number of ICC state parties in Southeast Asia, it would be hard to tell how the court would proceed.

 

Only two Southeast Asian countries are members of the ICC — Cambodia and Timor Leste. Duterte on Sunday said he will "convince" other countries that ratified the Rome Statute to follow his example and withdraw from the treaty.

 

"If they want to continue, I think it would be foolhardy for the court to expect cooperation from us and, of course, even the matter of acquiring jurisdiction over the person will depend on cooperation," Roque said.

 

Under the Rome Statute, the ICC acquired automatic jurisdiction over member countries upon ratifying the treaty. However, allegations must still undergo preliminary examination to determine if they fall under the crimes that the court has jurisdiction over.

 

The ICC office of the prosecutor has yet to determine whether the court even needs to conduct a preliminary investigation.

Roque also noted that Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has outstanding warrants of arrest and has not yet been apprehended. Al-Bashir is the only sitting head of state who is wanted for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for his crimes in Darfur, Sudan.

 

The Sudanese government did not recognize the warrant for Bashir's arrest.

 

"There is already one president who has an outstanding warrant of arrest, Al-Bashir, and no state has apprehended him. The court knows what is good for it… They should just throw away this case," the presidential spokesman said. 

 

Following the Philippines' withdrawal from the ICC, the international court urged Manila to reconsider its decision.

 

"The court encourages the Philippines to not follow through with the reported intention to withdraw, as it is an important State Party to the Rome Statute, and as such an integral part of the international criminal justice system aimed at ending impunity for and helping prevent the gravest crimes under international law," the ICC said in an e-mail to Philstar.com

 

Roque, however, said that the international tribunal's appeal to the Philippines was "too late the hero."