Senate approves 2002 Rome Statute

MANILA, Philippines—The Senate has approved on third and final reading a resolution concurring in the ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the world’s first permanent tribunal for war crimes.

Seventeen senators voted Tuesday in favor of the resolution with only Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile casting the dissenting vote. There was no abstention.

Enrile said his vote does not mean he has no faith in the ICC’s administration of justice. Only, he said the statute could be detrimental for the country’s security.

He said the court could create a situation where “psychologically our military people will be impeded in their effort to protect the safety, the peace and the interests of the Filipino people.”

Under the treaty, military officers would assume command responsibility for crimes, or atrocities, committed by forces, under certain conditions.

“While it may not happen that some or any of them would finally be condemned, the fact is they will be exposed to all kinds of suits,” Enrile said.

Enrile also feared that incumbent Philippine leaders could lose their right to invoke their immunity from suit before the international tribunal.

“I’m not sure that the president of this country although immune from suit during her or his tenure of office could invoke that immunity in the International Court of Justice,” he said.

If a state becomes a party to the Rome Statue, any past leader—particularly head of state, member of Congress or any high-ranking government official—could be investigated and prosecuted if he or she commits a core crime.

Core crimes, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago previously explained, include genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of aggression.

Aside from Santiago, the following senators voted in favor of the resolution: Vicente Sotto III, Jose Estrada, Francis Escudero, Francis Pangilinan, Panfilo Lacson, Gregorio Honasan, Aquilino Pimentel III, Pia Cayetano, Alan Peter Cayetano, Edgardo Angara, Teofisto Guingona III, Loren Legarda, Ramon Revilla Jr., Ferdinand “Bong-Bong” Marcos Jr. Antonio Trillanes IV and Manny Villar.