Marcos can decide on rejoining ICC without Senate approval, says Drilon | ABS-CBN

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Marcos can decide on rejoining ICC without Senate approval, says Drilon

Marcos can decide on rejoining ICC without Senate approval, says Drilon

Rowegie Abanto,

ABS-CBN News

 | 

Updated Nov 30, 2023 10:27 AM PHT

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President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. addresses the members of the media on May 23, 2022. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. addresses the members of the media on May 23, 2022. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File

MANILA — The Marcos administration does not need to secure lawmakers' approval for a possible return to the International Criminal Court, according to former Senate President Franklin Drilon.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has the "legal authority" to rejoin the ICC without the need for Senate concurrence, Drilon said in a statement on Tuesday.

Drilon released the statement after Sen. Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa told ANC on Monday that the Philippines needed the chamber's concurrence to rejoin the tribunal.

Drilon, a former lawmaker and justice chief, said Marcos could simply rely on the original Senate resolution on the Philippines' ICC membership, which "remains valid and in effect."

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The Senate, through a resolution passed on August 23, 2011, concurred with then-President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III's ratification of the Rome Statute that created the ICC.

For a treaty to take effect in the Philippines, it must be approved by at least two-thirds of the senators.

"[R]ejoining the ICC is purely an executive action, given the Senate's prior ratification of the treaty," Drilon said.

"Resolution No. 57, like any other resolution or law, remains legally binding unless specifically repealed. Its ratification has never been revoked.”

Former President Rodrigo Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the ICC in 2019. Marcos said last week his government was studying a possible return to the ICC, which is investigating Duterte's war on drugs.

Some 6,181 people were killed in Duterte's anti-narcotics campaign, which began when he took power in 2016, according to official records. But rights groups say that up to 30,000 may have died.

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DRILON CITES PREVIOUS EXECUTIVE ACTION

Drilon argued that Duterte on his own terminated the decades-old Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) governing the presence of US troops in the Philippines. Duterte later unilaterally reinstated the pact by retracting the termination letter for the VFA, Drilon said.

The Supreme Court, Drilon added, previously ruled that "unless there’s a provision requiring Senate concurrence prior to withdrawal, the President can withdraw from a treaty."

"If withdrawal from a treaty can be made through an executive action as shown by former President Duterte, then the decision to rejoin can likewise be made through an executive action by President Marcos,” Drilon said.

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