“Withdrawing from the Rome Statute does not discharge a state party from the obligations it has incurred as a member,” the court said in a 101-page decision authored by Associate Justice Marvic Leonen. The court said this was clearly spelled out in Article 127(2) of the Rome Statute, which the Philippines joined in November 2011. Malacañang has said repeatedly that the president will not cooperate with the ICC probe since the Philippines had withdrawn from the Rome Statute. Duterte on Saturday reiterated his own argument that the treaty had no legal effect because it was not published in the Official Gazette. Pangilinan and the other petitioners had argued that Duterte should have first sought the Senate’s concurrence before the Philippine government moved to withdraw from the treaty.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer July 21, 2021 21:22 UTC