The Ides of March of Duterte

COMMONSENSE

- MARICHU A. VILLANUEVA

When former president Rodrigo Duterte was flown to The Hague, Netherlands last March 11, he was already reportedly alerted about his possible arrest as soon as he returns back to Manila from his Hong Kong trip. True enough, he was served with "diffusion request" to face 43 cases of alleged "crimes against humanity" related to the reported extrajudicial killings (EJKs) during his administration's all-out war against illegal drugs. With the cooperation of the Philippine government, Mr. Duterte was boarded on a private jet to face trial before the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague.

As subsequent events played out, the Philippine government "surrendered" ex-president Duterte to the jurisdiction of the ICC through the International Criminal Police Organization, or the Interpol. But the Philippines already withdrew from the Rome Statute on March 17, 2018, shortly after the ICC commenced a preliminary examination on the alleged EJKs against then president Duterte.

The Rome Statute "is the founding treaty of the ICC, establishing the court's jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression, with the aim of ending impunity for the perpetrators of these crimes." It was forged in July 1998 with 125 countries, including the Philippines, as original signatories.

According to the ICC's treaty, the withdrawal will not impact any on-going consideration of alleged crimes committed before the withdrawal entered into force. However, should any Rome Statute crimes be committed after March 17, 2019 — when the withdrawal came into effect — the Court will not have jurisdiction.

These are the raging debates among legal and constitutional experts here while 80-year-old ex-president Duterte is now cooling his heels in the medical center inside the ICC Detention Center in Scheveningen at The Hague.