Senator Lacson: ICC Case Against President Duterte, 11 Senior Gov’t Officials “Dustbin-Bound”
The criminal complaint filed against Philippine President Rodrigo
Duterte and 11 senior government officials before the International Criminal
Court (ICC) is dustbin bound, Senator Panfilo Lacson said Tuesday, April 25,
describing the witnesses as “perjured.”
“ICC case vs. PRRD, et al is dustbin bound if two perjured
witnesses, Lascañas and Matobato are the only ones testifying,” Senator Lacson
said in his official Twitter account.
Retired Cop Arturo Lascañas and self-confessed hitman Edgar
Matobato have both claimed in previous Senate hearings that the so-called
vigilante group Davao Death Squad (DDS) was real and that it was led by
President Duterte himself.
In a text message to reporters, Senator Lacson, Chair of the
Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, said that two
requirements should first be met before the complaint is filed.
Otherwise, Senator Lacson said the case was as good as
without merit because they came from “polluted sources and perjured witnesses.”
Moreover, he said that it seemed like the goal of filing the
case was to embarrass the President which Senator Lacson said was “one of the
most unpatriotic acts” and “the worst disservice that one can do to his
country.”
He said people who would want to see the ICC to take
jurisdiction over the case would most likely be disappointed.
Matobato’s lawyer, Jude Sabio, filed a criminal case for
crimes against humanity noting that President Duterte allegedly violated the
Articles of the Rome Statute through commission of mass murder or extrajudicial
executions during his term as Davao City Mayor and now President of the
Philippines through his aggressive campaign against illegal drugs.
Reports showed thousands of drug suspects in Davao City and
nationwide have been killed in the administration’s drug campaign.
“A number of local and international human rights groups and
other international bodies have called the attention of our government to stop
the bloody killings in the country in the name of war against drugs.
However, President Duterte has completely ignored these
calls, while his government officials and allies have become instruments in
covering up the issue in the media and Senate investigations conducted,” Sabio
said in filing the complaint.
“It is for these reasons that I have referred this case to
the ICC to make President Duterte accountable for his crimes in the name of
international criminal justice, and to once and for all end this dark, obscene,
murderous and evil era in the Philippines,” he added.
Sabio, in his complaint, cited the similarities in the drug
war when President Duterte was Mayor and now as President including police
participation, element of hitman, reward system for killing, reward in cash, a
kill list, among others.
Aside from President Duterte, also charged for violating
different provisions of the Rome Statute, to wit: Justice Secretary Vitaliano
Aguirre; Police Director General Ronald dela Rosa; Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez of
the House of Representatives; Former Interior and Local Government Secretary
Ismael Sueno; Police Superintendent Edilberto Leonardo; Senior Police Officer 4
Sanson “Sonny” Buenaventura; Police Supt. Royina Garma; National Bureau of
Investigation (NBI) Director Dante Gierran; Solicitor General Jose Calida; Senator
Richard Gordon and Senator Alan Peter S. Cayetano.
The Rome Statute is the treaty that established the ICC, the
first permanent international court that is capable of trying perpetrators of
genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression, the
Statute’s four core international crimes.
The Philippines is a state party to the Rome Statute,
together with other 123 state parties, after ratifying it in August 2011.
Senator Lacson: ICC Case Against President Duterte, 11 Senior Gov’t Officials “Dustbin-Bound”
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April 29, 2017
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