Even without ICC: PH capable of protecting human rights, says Leonen

Even without the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Philippines has the capability to protect human rights, said Supreme Court (SC) Justice Marvic Leonen.

Leonen pointed this out in his Twitter post after the SC made public its decision that the magistrate penned on the dismissal of the petition that assailed the government’s decision to withdraw from the ICC.

“Despite the withdrawal, this Court finds no lesser protection of human rights within our system of laws,” posted Leonen who cited the decision.

“Neither do we agree..that without the treaty, the judiciary will not be able to fulfill its mandate to protect human rights.” he added.

The March 16 SC decision dismissed the petition filed by Senators Francis Pangilinan, Franklin Drilon, Leila De Lima, and Risa Hontiveros and former senators Paolo Benigno Aquino IV and Antonio Trillanes IV.

In the petition that they filed before the SC in 2018, the petitioners said the withdrawal from the ICC is “invalid or ineffective.”

“As a treaty validly entered into by the Philippines, the Rome Statute has the same status as an enactment of Congress. In other words, the Rome Statute is a law in the Philippines. As a law, the withdrawal from the Rome Statute requires the participation of Congress,” read the petition.

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Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)