Law allows Duterte's turnover to ICC; Bato, Albayalde next

Did government break the law in turning over Rodrigo Duterte to the International Criminal Court?

- JARIUS BONDOC

No. Government is in fact authorized to surrender heinous crime suspects to international investigators and jurors, retired Supreme Court justice Antonio Carpio asserts.

That law is RA 9851, or the Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide and Other Crimes Against Humanity.

The 2009 law nullifies Duterte loyalists' questions against his arrest through an ICC warrant.

Duterte and Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa are petitioning the SC to overturn the arrest. They claim that government went overboard in cooperating with Interpol.

But Dela Rosa himself and Oscar Albayade could soon be apprehended also on ICC order.

This is because the two former PNP chiefs of president Duterte are named in his charge sheet, says ICC assistant to counsel Kristina Conti.

RA 9851 states in Chapter VII, Jurisdiction, Section 17:

"In the interest of justice, the relevant Philippine authorities may dispense with the investigation or prosecution of a crime punishable under this Act if another court or international tribunal is already conducting the investigation or undertaking the prosecution of such crime.

"Instead, the authorities may surrender or extradite suspected or accused persons in the Philippines to the appropriate international court, if any, or to another State pursuant to the applicable extradition laws and treaties."

This is the law applicable today, not Article 59 of the Rome Statute, Carpio says.