CALAPAN CITY, Oriental Mindoro – Former Sen. Leila de Lima said she is confident that the International Criminal Court will issue warrants of arrest against former President Rodrigo Duterte and several others for alleged violation of international humanitarian law despite the creation of a special body that will investigate and file the necessary criminal charges in Philippine courts.
FORMER Sen. Leila de Lima (center) and former Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat of Ifugao (right) speak in a press conference on Friday, Dec. 20, in Bongabong, Oriental Mindoro. Also in photo is Oriental Mindoro Rep. Alfonso V. Umali Jr. (left). (Jerry Alcayde)
De Lima said the Special Task Force of the Department of Justice can only recommend the cases to be filed against Duterte and it cannot enjoin the ICC from further prosecuting and putting the former President on trial.
The task force was given 60 days to investigate, conduct case buildup, and file necessary charges, if warranted against Duterte, Sen. Ronald de la Rosa, and other possible perpetrators in the alleged extrajudicial killings during the previous administration’s controversial anti-narcotics campaign.
“It is the right of the people to be properly informed about crimes against humanity and yes, locally we have already a law, Republic Act 9851, that punishes crimes against international humanitarian law, genocide, and other related crimes against humanity,” the former senator said during a press conference on Friday, Dec. 20, in Bongabong, Oriental Mindoro.
“One of my recommendations, when I attended the quad-committee hearings in the House of Representatives, is the filing of charges against persons of the highest responsibility, notably Duterte, in their bloody drug war,” De Lima said.
De Lima said the domestic version of the Rome Statute was passed even before the Philippines became a member of the ICC when it ratified the statute in 2011.
The ICC entered the picture when it sensed that no serious criminal proceedings to hold persons accountable in the EJKs were being done by the government, De Lima said.
“I attempted to investigate when I was still in the Senate but after three hearings, especially when I presented a vital witness in the person of Edgar Matobato, they stripped me of my chairmanship in the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights,” she said.
De Lima thanked the quad-committee for giving opportunity and courage to several witnesses and the families of the EJK victims to share their personal experience and knowledge about the drug war.