Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla

MANILA, Philippines – Despite a firestorm of criticisms, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla defends the position of the government on serving the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against former President Rodrigo Duterte through the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol). 

“I had no qualms about what we did being right or wrong, I think we were in the right the whole time,” Remulla said Wednesday at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum. 

“It is a diffusion order that we got from Interpol and a warrant, a copy of the warrant was given to us and it’s just about right that we did what we had to do,” he said. 

Duterte’s arrest on March 11 sparked worldwide judgment as to whether his seizure was lawful or not. The government defends that while it still does not cooperate with the ICC, it still is bound by its active commitment with the Interpol that had to be honored otherwise serious consequences would be at stake. 

The former president’s camp meanwhile insists Duterte was completely denied due process. Among their allegations were him not being presented with an arrest warrant, having been denied his right to legal counsel and not being brought to a Philippine court, an imperative in Article 59 of the Rome Statute before being flown directly to the ICC. 

Above all, Duterte’s local defense team pushes the argument that the ICC has no jurisdiction over the Philippines by virtue of its 2019 withdrawal. 

Remulla cited a Supreme Court decision that crimes done before the Philippines’ withdrawal are still under ICC jurisdiction. 

“The first thing we look at is the jurisdictional fact and whether or not there is jurisdiction and in the Cayetano vs Pangilinan case I think the Supreme Court already stated that all things that happened prior to a certain date in 2019 are still within the jurisdiction of the ICC,” Remulla said. 

According to Remulla, several things affect the issue of jurisdiction but one law is universal answers takes over their action, Republic Act 9851 or the “Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide and Other Crimes Against Humanity” which they will bring before the Supreme Court to answer the habeas corpus petitions filed by the Duterte siblings against the government. 

The law he said explains why executive action superseded judicial intervention. 

“It’s a law that defines and redefines cases of this nature that are brought before our courts or that are brought before us to decide on whether we take a judicial alternative or we take executive action and in this case we decided to take executive action,” he said.