Romualdez reacts to Palace study of potential PH return to ICC
At A Glance
- House Speaker Martin Romualdez vowed to follow the policies from the executive branch after President Marcos confirmed that there was a study on the Philippines' potential return to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
House Speaker Martin Romualdez (left), President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. (Speaker’s office)
"We will follow the policies."
House Speaker Martin Romualdez had this to say Friday afternoon, Nov. 24 after President Marcos confirmed that there was a study on the Philippines' potential return to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
"We will take it as is. We will follow. We will follow the policies," Romualdez said in a chance interview during the second day of the 31st Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF31) at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City.
Romualdez, leader of the 300-plus strong House of Representatives, is arguably Marcos' top ally in the legislature.
Incidentally, resolutions from House members expressing favor for the ICC’s planned investigation on the previous Duterte administration’s bloody war on illegal drugs have begun to gain traction.
In a joint hearing Wednesday, the Committees on Human Rights and on Justice took up two such measures, specifically House Resolution (HR) Nos. 1394 and 1477.
"What you heard is just the sense of some of the congressmen. We will still deliberate on that," Romualdez said, referring to resolutions.
It was March 2018 when then-president Rodrigo Duterte ordered the withdrawal of the Philippines from the Rome Statute, which created the ICC.
This, after ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced that she would start a preliminary examination against Duterte in connection with complaints on the anti-drug campaign.