The Supreme Court will play a pivotal role in guiding the Philippine government on how to handle the arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte by the International Criminal Court (ICC), Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano said.

According to Cayetano, the SC’s guidance would set legal precedence and help the public understand what to expect, especially when more arrest warrants will be issued by the ICC.

“The Supreme Court still has time, so we can all have proper guidance. It’s the confusion now that’s the killer,” Cayetano said in a recent interview.

“I’m hoping that by the time the ICC releases other warrants of arrest, there will be some guidance on paper,” he said.

Cayetano noted that the ICC's founding treaty, the Rome Statute, obliges all 124 member countries to arrest and transfer anyone with an ICC arrest warrant if they enter their territory. But enforcing this rule is challenging and depends on the willingness of these countries to cooperate.

In the case of the Philippines, he said any ICC action must operate within the bounds of the 1987 Constitution and Philippine laws.

“Once the SC releases a writ of habeas corpus, then it it will be the duty of the Republic of the Philippines including the Department of Foreign Affairs and diplomatic efforts na return the former president in the country,” he said.

“If the SC also says that the former president’s boarding on the airplane wasn’t lawful and that

they have to pass the local courts to validate the warrant, it will have persuasive effect,” Cayetano stressed.

According to Cayetano, Duterte’s human rights should have been respected and that the local courts should have been allowed to decide.

“That's precisely what human rights is — it's available to everyone. And that's precisely what due process is. Part of it is having the availability of legal remedies,” he emphasized.