Akbayan Party-list Rep. Perci Cendaña views the so-called "President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (PRRD) Bill" as nothing but a way to protect criminals from international accountability.

Cendaña described the Senator Imee Marcos-authored bill "as a regressive and dangerous attempt to shield perpetrators of mass atrocities".

For him, the bill that seeks to prohibit "extraordinary rendition" is merely a knee-jerk response to the ongoing International Criminal Court (ICC) trial into Duterte’s bloody war on drugs.

Extraordinary rendition refers to the transfer of any individual from Philippine jurisdiction to a foreign one without consent or a local court order.

"Senator Imee is wrong on both law and principle," Cendaña said.

"The ICC has jurisdiction over former President Duterte because the alleged crimes occurred during the period when the Philippines was a full member of the ICC, from 2011 to 2019," he noted. 

Marcos recently filed Senate Bill (SB) No.557, which sought to prohibit the arrest or detention of anyone within Philippine territory for the purpose of surrendering the person to an international entity without a warrant of arrest issued by a local court.

But if there is one to blame for Duterte's arrest, it's the former president himself, says the Akbayan solon.

"Edi sisihin ni Sen. Imee si Digong mismo. Requirement sa Rome Statute na iharap ng member state sa local court ang taong inaresto. Sa sobrang brilliant ni Digong, inalis niya tayo sa ICC kaya nung inaresto siya hindi na tayo member ng ICC (Sen. Imee should blame Digong himself. It is a requirement under the Rome Statute to present the arrested individual before the local court of a member state. Because Duterte was so brilliant, he removed us from the ICC. So when he was arrested, we were no longer an ICC member)," Cendaña said.

Cendaña hit the lady senator for her alleged double standards.

"Extra naman sa pagka-OA si Sen. Imee. Masyadong inaalala ang 'extraordinary rendition,' pero tikom bibig siya pag dating sa extrajudicial killings ni former President Duterte (Senator Imee was extra exaggerated. She worried so much of the extraordinary rendition, but she was silent about the extrajudicial killings of former president Duterte)," he said.

He warned that the true intent of the bill was to pre-emptively block any international effort to hold Duterte accountable, not to protect due process.

"There is due process. Duterte has been given the opportunity to answer the allegations," he said.