SC urged: Break ICC impasse: Tribunal sat on petitions for 600 days

Finally, a group addressed an issue many lawyers consider taboo — nudging the highest court of the land to weigh in on a pressing question on the extent of a foreign court’s authority in a country with a functioning judiciary.

The opposition Partido Demokratiko Pilipino Lakas ng Bayan (PDP Laban) has written an open letter to the Supreme Court, urging the prompt resolution of pending petitions questioning the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) jurisdiction over Filipino citizens, as well as of the consolidated habeas corpus petitions regarding former President Rodrigo Duterte.

While Duterte and Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa are high-profile members of PDP Laban, the political party clarified that neither the organization nor its current officers are direct parties to the legal proceedings.

The party emphasized that it is stepping forward as a concerned third party representing citizens invested in how matters of significant public interest are handled and decided under the law.

It pointed out that the consolidated habeas corpus petitions have been pending for nearly 600 days since 13 March 2025, when the Supreme Court initially directed respondents to show cause within a 24-hour window.

The core of the party’s petition focused strictly on judicial expediency. PDPLaban underscored that under the Philippine Constitution, warrants of arrest require probable cause determined personally by a judge to satisfy due process requirements.

The party pointed out that no local judge had issued such a warrant against Duterte or Dela Rosa.

While maintaining its mindfulness of the sub judice rule, the party reiterated that its primary interest is not in pushing for a specific outcome, but in securing a clear and final decision from the High Court to resolve the legal gridlock.

“A nation can debate such questions for a season; it cannot live long with two answers to them,” the party stated in its open letter, referencing the constitutional guarantee that all persons are entitled to the speedy disposition of their cases.

PDP Laban maintained that it will fully respect and abide by the Supreme Court’s ruling, whether it holds that the actions against Duterte and Dela Rosa may lawfully be enforced or otherwise, and urged the government to do the same to preserve institutional stability.

Torreon: No legal basis

Lawyer Israelito Torreon, counsel for Dela Rosa, said the government has no clear legal basis to enforce an ICC arrest warrant against his client and the senator is entitled to be heard in a domestic court first.

In a broadcast interview, Torreon said the country’s judicial system has no specific rules on surrender.

Republic Act 9851, he noted, gives the government only two options when the ICC seeks a person: surrender or extradition. The Supreme Court has issued rules and there is a clear law on extradition, but nothing governs a surrender.

“The government cannot simply create such rules now, since it would still have to meet publication and consultation requirements,” Torreon said.

He said the closest procedure would be Rule 39, Section 48 of the Rules of Court, on the recognition of foreign judgments, applied by analogy.

That would require a formal court petition, a long process the government likely wants to avoid, he said. Even so, he argued, “due process and fairness” require it.

Torreon also said other ICC member states, including France, Belgium and Germany, put people arrested on ICC warrants through their local courts first, in line with Article 59 of the Rome Statute.

He cited the arrest of former Congolese politician Jean-Pierre Bemba in Belgium as an example. He said Article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guarantee the right to defend oneself, and European law also gives people arrested under foreign processes their day in local courts.

‘Armed and dangerous’

Torreon also criticized the description of Dela Rosa as “armed and dangerous,” calling it a serious claim that is “extra-legal” and not backed by any court ruling.

He said that even under Philippine National Police (PNP) circulars, the label requires a clear factual basis, which he said is absent.

He said Dela Rosa left the custody of the Senate a long time ago, that a motion was pending before the Supreme Court at the time, and that no warrant of arrest had been issued.

Torreon said the label could set a bad precedent and encourage armed people to go after the P50-million reward on the senator. He said it also has a “chilling effect” on police officers, former soldiers, and Philippine Military Academy graduates, who he said have to carry out their superiors’ orders.

Torreon claimed that “guilty by association” is at work in the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., saying that supporters of Duterte are at risk. He noted that Dela Rosa delivered about 41 privilege speeches in the Senate, including one in September 2025 on Duterte’s situation at the ICC, and on that of preacher Apollo Quiboloy.

Torreon said the P50-million reward was unprecedented, noting that rewards had previously been P1 million to P1.5 million, and contrasted it with the government’s response to the looming El Niño.