Pimentel: Senate should have more power over PH foreign policy

In light of President Rodrigo Duterte’s  decision to withdraw the Philippines’ ratification of the  Rome Statute,  Senate  President Aqulino “Koko” Pimentel  III raised the  idea of giving the Senate  more power to determine country’s  foreign policies.

During the ongoing Senate hearing on Charter change proposals in Baguio City on Friday,  Pimentel said the proposed  shift  to a federal form of government from the  present  presidential system could  be done if  the   1987 Constitution would  be opened to a structural change.

“Since binubuksan na rin ang Konstitusyon tingnan na rin po natin yung ibang kakulungan sa Konstitusyon,”  he said.

“Kahit yung withdrawal sa ICC, the Rome Statute,  may participation ba ang Senate o wala? Under the  present Constitution, wala.  You can interpret it na wala.”

The Rome Statute is the treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC), where  Duterte and  other  officials have been charged with crimes against humanity  in connection with his  administration’s   deadly war on drugs.

“So why not open  it up? Give the Senate more role in determining our foreign policy so that this is just not determined by one man,” Pimentel said, noting that the executive  branch is  led by one man, the Chief Executive.

On Wednesday,  Duterte announced the withdrawal  from ICC, citing what he said an  apparent “concerted effort” between the United Nations special rapporteurs and the ICC special prosecutor to paint him as a “ruthless and heartless violator of human rights who allegedly caused thousands of extrajudicial killings.”

 

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

 

Pimentel  immediately threw his  support behind the country’s withdrawal  from the ICC.

“Yeah, if I were President baka ginawa ko rin yun e. Kasi imagine sinong nagrereklamo? Tapos ano ‘yung mga alegasyon? Hindi ba ito domestic policy?” he earlier said in an interview at the Senate.

READ: Koko backs PH withdrawal from ICC, hits ‘non-sense’ case vs Duterte    /muf

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