Hontiveros files reso urging Marcos admin to cooperate with ICC

Opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros on Tuesday filed a resolution urging the Marcos administration to cooperate with the International Criminal Court's investigation into former president Rodrigo Duterte's bloody drug war.

In her proposed Senate Resolution No. 867, Hontiveros noted that no less than President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has vowed "to promote human rights and a 'high level of accountability' for human rights violations."

"The best way for Malacañang to show its commitment to upholding human rights is to work with the ICC in securing justice for human rights violations victims, and in upgrading mechanisms of human rights protections in the Philippines," the senator said in the resolution.

"Based on the latest pronouncements of the President, the cooperation which many victims of human rights and their families have been asking seems possible," she added.

Marcos' predecessor, Duterte, is accused of committing crimes against humanity before the ICC in relation to his bloody war on drugs that killed at least 7,000 people, according to government data. Both local and international human rights groups have said the actual figure is higher than the said numbers.

Last week, Marcos, reacting to resolutions filed before the House of Representatives, said his administration is looking into the country's possible return to the ICC.

"Should we return under the fold of the ICC? So that is again under study. So we'll just keep looking at it and see what our options are," the president said.

The Philippines withdrew its membership from the Rome Statute in March 2018 upon the order of then-president Rodrigo Duterte. The withdrawal took effect on 17 March 2019.

According to Hontiveros' resolution, the Philippines' withdrawal from the ICC does not mean that the country no longer has any obligation to cooperate with the international tribunal.

The resolution cited Article 172(2) of the Rome Statute, which provides that "withdrawal shall not affect any cooperation with the Court in connection with criminal investigations and proceedings in relation to which the withdrawing State had a duty to cooperate and which were commenced prior to the date on which the withdrawal became effective, nor shall it prejudice in any way the continued consideration of any matter which was already under consideration by the Court prior."

Likewise, the resolution pointed out that the Supreme Court, in the landmark ruling Pangilinan v. Cayetano, declared that the Philippine's withdrawal "does not undermine or diminish the International Criminal Court's jurisdiction and power to continue a probe that it has commenced while a state was a party to the Rome Statute," and "does not discharge a state party from the obligations it has incurred as a member."

"The Philippines has historically been at the forefront of advancing humanitarian law and international justice, and it is high time that we affirm our commitment to these values before the international community," the resolution said.

Last week, House Committee on Human Rights chairperson Bienvenido "Benny" Abante Jr. and 1-Rider Party-list Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez, who are both members of the House majority, filed House Resolution 1477.

The Makabayan bloc had filed a similar resolution in the House of Representatives, but Abante's resolution surprised the public as he is a member of the majority.

The resolutions are calling on the Marcos administration to cooperate with the ICC on its investigation into the Duterte administration's war on drugs.