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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider Metro Manila devider De Lima reacts on VP Sara's statement on ICC probe

De Lima reacts on VP Sara's statement on ICC probe

Published Nov 28, 2023 01:17 pm

Former senator Leila de Lima questioned the remarks of Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte about the Marcos administration’s possible cooperation with the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation on former president Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs. 

“There are several things wrong with VP Sara's statement on the BBM [Bongbong Marcos] administration's possible cooperation with the ICC in its investigation of the Duterte drug war, leaving a bad taste in the mouth of everyone concerned,” De Lima said in a statement. 

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Vice President Sara Duterte (left) and former senator Leila de Lima (DepEd's Facebook account, Noel Pabalate)

She added that Duterte, as DepEd secretary, has no business submitting her legal opinion to the Department of Justice about the ICC. 

“First, while purporting to champion the position of PBBM as chief architect of the nation's foreign policy, VP Sara is actually undermining this presidential prerogative when she said she intends to submit her own legal position on the matter to the DOJ. But as a member of the cabinet, VP Sara has no business submitting such legal opinion in her capacity as DepEd Secretary. The ICC matter has nothing to do with the DepEd,” said De Lima. 

De Lima added that if Duterte “is submitting her legal opinion in her capacity as VP, then she is accomplishing precisely the very opposite of her admonition that we should respect the President's position, by preempting the finality of said position even when she has no authority to do so. In her capacity as VP, she is not a member of the Cabinet, and therefore has no role whatsoever in shaping foreign policy at the Cabinet level.”

By submitting her legal opinion, Duterte “is putting the DOJ in an awkward position,” according to De Lima. 

“The DOJ Secretary does not answer to the VP, but by giving the DOJ a piece of her mind, Sec. Remulla is hard put to ignore her submission, even if this is legally untenable or inconsistent with the administration's own position, by virtue of the formal rank of the VP even if she has no official capacity to help render legal opinions on foreign policy,” added De Lima. 

De Lima said that Duterte “is the least objective in giving her 2 cents worth on the issue of whether or not BBM should allow the ICC investigators entry into the PH. She is a potential subject of the ICC probe, if not already among those being investigated by the ICC in her role as Mayor of Davao from 2010 and within the coverage of the jurisdiction of the ICC over the Philippines while the latter was still a member state to the Rome Statute.” 

“The ICC investigation does not only cover the drug war EJKs from 2016, but all the way back to 2011 when the PH ratified the Rome Statute, during which time VP Sara was Mayor of Davao and thus has to answer for the prevalence of EJKs in her city within the scope of the ICC investigation,” she said. 

According to De Lima, “All told, the Dutertes of Davao are not the best resource persons for the administration in deciding whether or not to cooperate in the ICC investigation, considering that they are the ones being investigated for their role in the operation of a death squad in Davao City during the period within the scope of said investigation.”

De Lima was released from detention from Camp Crame on Nov. 13 after six years and eight months. Her detention stemmed from three drug cases filed by the DOJ under the Duterte administration in February 2017. 

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Muntinlupa City Leila de Lima Sara Duterte
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