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MANILA, Philippines — The Palace on Tuesday said the government may appoint its own lawyer to defend the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in response to the consolidated habeas corpus cases filed by Duterte’s children.
This comes after the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) recused itself from the case, reiterating its stance that the ICC has no jurisdiction over the country.
“What I know is that when I spoke with [Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin], they will hire their own lawyer,” said Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary Claire Castro in a Radyo 630 interview.
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Ronald dela Rosa could seek refuge in the Senate in case the International Criminal Court (ICC) orders his arrest for crimes against humanity, Senate President Francis Escudero confirmed yesterday.
“The Senate’s decision on this matter is based not on the law but on what is referred to as institutional courtesy. The Senate will not allow any of its members to be arrested while inside the chamber, especially during a session,” he told Senate reporters during a press conference.
“Institutional courtesy dictates that law enforcement should not enter the Senate, especially if there’s a possibility of arresting a senator,” he said.
Escudero said Dela Rosa, deemed to be a “co-perpetrator” of former president Rodrigo Duterte in the ICC charges, requested if he could remain in the Senate until all of his legal remedies, such as filing petitions and appeals to the Supreme Court, are exhausted.
MANILA — Former President Rodrigo Duterte’s appearance before the International Criminal Court — the first former Asian leader to face it — for allegations of the crime against humanity of murder is unprecedented and unfamiliar to Filipinos, a disinformation researcher said, suggesting journalists and experts can help fill a gap that can be fertile ground for conspiracy theories and for information manipulation.
“The past week has been surreal to many Filipinos, with little to no precedent in our historical imagination,” said Dr. Jonathan Corpus Ong, executive director of Sigla Research Center and a professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst currently on sabbatical.
The first hours of Duterte’s arrest and eventual transfer to The Hague in the Netherlands prompted comparison to how the dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. and his family were flown out of the Philippines in 1986 — a comparison also made by Sen. Imee Marcos, the sitting President’s sister who was on that flight decades ago.
A police officer who went viral online is now facing an inciting to sedition complaint over his social media posts in response to the arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the PNP identified the cop as Patrolman Francis Steve Tallion Fontillas.
The Quezon City Police District (QCPD) filed the inciting to sedition under Article 142 of the Revised Penal Code in relation to the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 complaint against Fontillas with the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office.
