Detained Senator Leila de Lima has asked the Supreme Court to allow her to appear and represent herself during the oral arguments on the petition she and other opposition senators have filed assailing President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to withdraw the country’s adherence to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
In a four-page manifestation dated June 25, 2018, De Lima stressed that while it is true that the 1987 Constitution prohibits members of Congress from appearing and arguing case before the SC as counsel, the tribunal itself has allowed in several instances a lawmaker to take part in oral arguments.
De Lima said the Rules of Court, as well as previous SC rulings, also allows a litigant to personally prosecute his or her case.
Apart from De Lima, the other petitioners are Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, Benigno Paolo Aquino, Antonio Trillanes IV, Riza Hontiveros and Franklin Drilon.
The SC initially scheduled the oral arguments on July 24 but was later moved to Aug. 7 at the SC session hall.
In their petition, the opposition senators pointed out that the country’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute “cannot be justified under the so-called ‘residual powers’ of the President.”
They also argued that the Constitution mandated the Senate to ratify a treaty or an international agreement, and as such, the Executive branch cannot just unilaterally repeal a law or withdraw from the treaty of the international agreement.
Under Article VII Section 21 of the 1987 Constitution, “entering into treaty or international agreement requires participation of Congress, that is, through the concurrence of at least 2/3 of all the members of the Senate.”
President Duterte announced the country’s withdrawal from the Statute last March citing the “baseless, unprecedented and outrageous attacks” against him and his administration over its anti-drug war that is being blamed for thousands of deaths.
