Sen. Robin Padilla took aim at the International Criminal Court’s prosecution team after it moved to reject former President Rodrigo Duterte’s request to forgo personal attendance at the tribunal’s confirmation of charges proceedings over his administration’s anti-drug campaign.
Speaking in an online interview on Friday, Padilla argued that the option to decline appearance belongs to the accused.
“E karapatan ng accused yun. Akala ko ba itong prosecution e…nag-aaral ba kayo ng batas?” he said when asked for his reaction.
He maintained that Duterte, citing age and condition, should be allowed to invoke legal remedies available to him.
“Karapatan ng accused yun kung ayaw nyang humarap e lalong lalo na matanda na siya. Karapatan niya yun, human rights. Lahat ng klase ng law pwede niyang gamitin para hindi sya lumabas dyan,” Padilla added.
Padilla also raised concerns about how Duterte’s presence in court might be perceived publicly.
“Sasabihin na namang matanda na. Yung hitsura ni Digong gagawing kalokohan. E naku, alam na ho natin yun,” he said, while suggesting that the tribunal proceed with the scheduled hearings through the former president’s legal team instead. The confirmation of charges proceedings are set to begin on February 23.
In a letter dated February 18, Duterte reiterated his position that the ICC has no authority over him. He described his March 11 arrest in Manila and subsequent transfer to The Hague as unlawful.
“I am a Filipino citizen forcibly pushed into a jet and renditioned to The Hague in the Netherlands in flagrant contravention of my country’s Constitution and of national sovereignty. My kidnapping was facilitated by the office of the incumbent President of the Philippines with a plane specially chartered for this purpose,” he wrote.
Duterte also cited his physical state as a reason for asking to be excused from appearing before the court.
“I am old, tired, and frail,” he wrote in his letter.
“I wish for this Court to respect my peace inside the cell it has placed me. I have accepted the fact that I could die in prison.”
Despite the request, the prosecution filed a six-page submission urging ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I to turn down the appeal, stating that “there is no reasonable cause” for him not to appear during the confirmation hearing.
