MANILA – Other allegations against President Rodrigo Duterte before the International Criminal Court (ICC) have their own merits and will not be affected by the withdrawal of the case of one of the President’s accusers, according to a human rights lawyer.
Edre Olalia, president of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL), said the withdrawal of lawyer Jude Sabio on the communication he filed against Duterte before ICC will not affect the other communications against the Chief Executive.
“What is clear is that once jurisdiction is acquired and exercised by the ICC, our position is this should not be divested or frustrated by a unilateral withdrawal of a communication, especially if there are other facts and evidence to proceed with the process,” said Olalia.
The NUPL is one of the groups that filed a communication before the ICC, seeking charges of crimes against humanity against Duterte and his senior administration officials.
According to Olalia, their own communication and subsequent submissions – filed on behalf of relatives of drug war victims – “can very well stand on their own merits.”
“We also anticipate cooperation with other bodies like the UN Human Rights Council, the OHCHR (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights), and international NGOs to bolster our case for crimes against humanity against the President,” Olalia said.
Sabio, who filed his communication in 2017, asked ICC Prosecutor to Fatou Bensouda to set aside her preliminary examination of allegations relating to the Philippines’ war on drugs for allegedly being part of the opposition’s “political propaganda.”
In response, the ICC Office of the Prosecutor said that no communication before them can be withdrawn. It added that any supposed withdrawal would have no impact on the preliminary examination it is conducting.
“The office cannot effectively destroy or return information once it is [in] its possession or control. However, it would register any supplemental information the sender may now want to provide, including in terms of how to treat such information,” it said.
In December, the ICC prosecutor’s office said that it aims to finalize the preliminary examination in 2020, at which point Bensouda will decide “whether to seek authorization to open an investigation into the situation in the Philippines.”
Malacañang on Wednesday said the ICC should wake up from its supposed ignorance as the communication filed against Duterte was just part of a “vilification campaign.”
“The ICC has to wake up from its stupor if not ignorance. It should realize by now that it is being used by disgruntled and discredited persons to advance their goal of besmirching the reputation of President Duterte and achieve their impossible dream of bringing down the Duterte presidency,” Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said./PN
