(Eagle News) — Senator Leila de Lima has asked the Supreme Court for it to allow her to take part in oral arguments for the opposition lawmakers’ petition questioning the Philippines’ planned withdrawal from the Rome Statute.
“..This Honorable Court is respectfully asked to take judicial notice of its practice of permitting members of Congress to appear before it and argue their cases,” De Lima, who was among those who filed the petition against the Philippines plan to withdraw from the treaty that establishes the International Criminal Court, said.
Minority Senators Francis Pangilinan, Bam Aquino, Franklin Drilon, Antonio Trillanes IV and Risa Hontiveros also signed the petition.
” The situation of Senator De Lima is not different from them,” De Lima said.
In March, President Rodrigo Duterte announced the country’s withdrawal from the tribunal, citing what he said were the “baseless, unprecedented and outrageous attacks on my person as against my administration, engineered by the officials of the United Nations, as well as the attempt by the (ICC) special prosecutor to place my person within the jurisdiction of the (ICC)” as reasons.
An ICC prosecutor had said it would hold a preliminary investigation into the communication filed by lawyer Jude Sabio in connection with the drug war.