By Macon Ramos-Araneta
The Senate will likely reject the proposal for the Philippines to rejoin the Rome Statute in which the International Criminal Court (ICC) can conduct a criminal probe in the country, said Sen. Ronald Dela Rosa.
Asked if it will have the support of the Senate, Dela Ross replied, “I don’t think so. Right now as I have said again and again, the Senate is composed of 24 independent-minded republic.”
Pressed on why majority will not vote to support it should the President decide otherwise, Dela Rosa said he does not want to pre-empt because each one of them has their own decision.
Rejoining the Rome Statute, Dela Ross stressed, will be a process He said the country’s representative in The Hague (Netherland) should signify that if the Philippines will sign the agreement, it has to be ratified by the President. Once ratified, it shall be binding by a 2/3 Senate vote.
“So, everything is back to square one,” said Dela Rosa who, along with former president Rodrigo Duterte, is a respondent in the Extra-judicial killings that the ICC intends to investigate.
“While joining again the ICC remains a possibility, what President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said was clear: that (ICC) should not interfere, it’s not foreigners telling us who should be arrested, charged and jailed. So, we have to respect the decision of the President not to allow the ICC to come back, ” explained Dela Rosa.
But when questioned if he will campaign among senators not to support it, Dela Rosa assured he won’t “because I know that each of us has his own stand.”
Dela Rosa said he would just like to present his views and stand on the matter.
And since the political situation in the country “is very fluid, ” Dela said he has always been ready for the ICC prosecutors.
Dela Rosa guaranteed he will not escape or evade prosecution.
But clarified he is willing to face and be tried by Filipino courts. “But by a foreign body, I am not willing,” he said.
He asserted this does not mean he will escape.
“If our government and our court will say that I should face them, I will accede to their order,” said Dela Rosa.
Sought for his comment on the President’s statement that they’re studying to allow the ICC probe, Dela Rosa said “maybe there are a lot of possibilities when he says study.”
“Well, if the President says categorically that he is allowing ICC to come in and make the investigations, then that’s backpedaling.”
Asked if he will oppose, Dela Rosa cited the separation of powers of Congress and the Executive Branch.
The President, he said, is the chief architect of foreign relations and foreign policy so it is under his discretion to do that.
