PH withdrawal from ICC a completed act — Leonen

As far as the international community is concerned, the Philippines has already withdrawn its membership from the International Criminal Court (ICC), but only in the Philippines can one claim that there is a defect in the motion, an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court said Tuesday.

“As far as the international community, the Philippines has withdrawn its membership. To rejoin it [ICC] is not to withdraw the withdrawal but to sign and to accede. So, it is too late,” Associate Justice Marvic Leonen said, referring to the consolidated petitions asking the high court to nullify the Duterte administration’s unilateral decision to withdraw membership from the ICC.

READ: SC urged to reverse Duterte order pulling country out of ICC

But the counsel for the petitioner, lawyer Ray Paolo Santiago, argued that the effectivity of the withdrawal from the ICC is only one year after the submission of a letter from the government.

Leonen, however, said “it is already a completed act. Only in the Philippines that you [can] claim there is a defect.”

The petitioner, Philippine Coalition for the International Criminal Court (PCICC), wants the high court to issue a mandamus against the Duterte administration to “withdraw the withdrawal.”

A mandamus is a judicial writ issued as a command to order a government office or official to perform a statutory duty.

“You want this court to issue a communication? Is that correct? Can the court do that under our Constitutional order?” Leonen asked.

“Declaring void [the letter of communication sent to the ICC] is one thing,” said Leonen, but issuing a co-equal branch of government on the basis of interpretation that there is a ministerial duty to withdraw is another matter. /ee

READ: Duterte does the inevitable, declares PH withdrawal from ICC