Press Release
June 23, 2021

IMEE: ICC, STAY OUT OF PHILIPPINE JUSTICE SYSTEM; VFA NOT YOUR PROBLEM!

Senator Imee Marcos said Filipinos would be naïve to believe that the International Criminal Court (ICC) is beyond reproach, citing the way the court accepts funding and selects its judges.

"If the ICC decides to investigate President Duterte, it will not be free of foreign meddling. The court is largely European-funded at a time it is short on funding, and has so far decided mostly on cases involving Africans. Less economically and politically powerful nations are at a disadvantage," Marcos said.

Marcos cited the Washington-based think tank American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI) which identified the ICC's major funders as the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Croatia, Japan, Mexico, and Australia.

Pressure by the United States could also be applied on countries that it continues to defend militarily, despite its not being a state party to the Rome Statue that established the ICC, the AEI said.

"It is interesting to note that before she retired last week, former Chief Prosecutor (Fatou) Bensouda pushed to investigate President Duterte at the heels of his announcement that the suspension of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) would be extended," Marcos said.

"Human rights issues will be deployed in pursuit of military goals," Marcos added, citing another Washington-based think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which recommended that the Biden administration negotiate for greater military presence in the Philippines through an addendum to the VFA and greater pressure on human rights issues.

Vote trading and political favors among state parties have been "an open secret" in the selection of ICC judges, Marcos also said.

Marcos cited that when Japan ratified the Rome Statute in 2007 and became the ICC's biggest funder, it was awarded with the selection of one of its nationals, Fumiko Saiga, as a judge despite her not having any legal experience.

"Even her replacement after she died was a Japanese diplomat with no experience as a lawyer nor a judge," Marcos said, citing Kuniko Ozaki's mention in the book "Justice Denied: The Reality of the International Criminal Court."

Marcos called on the Filipino legal community to resist any move by the ICC to take over cases of alleged human rights abuses in the Duterte government's war on drugs.

"Foreign meddling in the Duterte case is not far-fetched. It would be an insult to every Filipino lawyer, judge and court if the ICC presumes to stand in their place, even before cases linked to the drug war undergo due process in our very own judicial system," Marcos said.


(Tagalog version)

IMEE: ICC, 'WAG MAKIALAM SA HUSTISYA NG 'PINAS; VFA 'DI NYO PROBLEMA!

Iginiit ni Senador Imee Marcos na walang kamuwang-muwang ang mga Pinoy sa paniniwalang walang bahid ng korapsyon ang International Criminal Court, na tumutukoy sa paraan nito ng pagtanggap ng mga pondo at pagpili ng mga hukom.

"Kung magdedesisyon ang ICC na imbestigahan si Pangulong Duterte, magiging bantad ito sa pamumulitika ng iba't-ibang bansa. Ang korte ay binuhusan ng malaking pondo ng mga bansa sa Europa sa mga panahong ito'y kapos, dahilan para maging dehado ang mga bansang mahihirap at hindi gaanong makapangyarihan," ani Marcos.

Ibinase ito ni Marcos sa pagtukoy ng Washington-based think tank American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI) sa mga pangunahing nagpopondo sa ICC na kinabibilangan ng United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Croatia, Japan, Mexico at Australia.

Binanggit rin anya ng AEI na maaari ding i-pressure o diinan ng United States ang mga bansa kung saan mayroon silang pinoprotektahang pang-sandatahan, sa kabila nang hindi kabahagi ang Amerika ng Rome Statute na nagtatag ng ICC.

"Nakakapukaw ng interes na bago magretiro nitong nakaraang linggo, itinulak ni dating Chief Prosecutor (Fatou) Bensouda na imbestigahan si Pangulong Duterte sa kasagsagan ng pag-aanunsyo nitong palalawigin pa ang suspensyon ng Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA)," diin ni Marcos.

"Ang mga isyu sa human rights ang sasamantalahin para sa pang-militar na pakay," dagdag ni Marcos na tumukoy sa isa pang Washington-based-think tank, ang Center for Strategic and International Studies, na nagrekomendang gamitan ng Biden administration ng dalawang klase ng diskarte para dagdagan pa ang presensya ng militar Amerikano sa Pilipinas sa pamamagitan ng dagdag-probisyon sa VFA at mas matinding pagbibigay-diin sa mga isyu ng human rights.

Ang pangangalakal sa pagpili ng ICC judges ay isa ring "open secret" pati ang pag-aayos ng mga makukuhang kapalit na pakinabang ng mga estadong kabahagi ng Rome Statute," ayon pa kay Marcos.

Tinukoy ni Marcos na noong ratipikahan ng Japan ang Rome Statute noong 2007 at maging pinakamalaking taga-pondo sa ICC, binigyan ito ng karapatang mamili ng kanilang kababayan na si Fumiko Saida, bilang isa sa mga hukom kahit pa wala pa itong karanasang legal.

"Maging noong sya'y mamatay pinalitan ito ng isang Japanese diplomat na walang karanasan bilang isang abogado o pagiging hukom," ani Marcos, na tumukoy sa pagkabanggit ni Kuniko Ozaki sa librong "Justice Denied: The Reality of the International Criminal Court,"

Sa harap nito, nanawagan si Marcos sa Filipino legal community na palagan ang anumang hakbang ng ICC na hawakan ang mga kasong umano'y pag-abuso sa karapatang pantao ng giyera sa droga ng pamahalaang Duterte.

"Hindi malayong pakialaman ng mga dayuhan ang kaso ni Duterte. Isang malaking insulto sa bawat abogadong Pilipino, hukom at korte kung ICC ang aagaw ng kanilang tungkulin, bago pa man dumaan ang mga kaso ng drug war sa due process sa sarili nating judicial system," paalala ni Marcos.

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