(Eagle News)—Former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario and former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales have filed a communication against Chinese President Xi Jinping before the International Criminal Court.
The communication— filed on March 15, two days before the Philippines’ official withdrawal from the ICC—was for his alleged crimes against humanity in connection with China’s expansive claims in the West Philippine Sea.
Del Rosario has been a vocal critic of President Rodrigo Duterte’s stance in the West Philippine Sea dispute, saying the Philippines should invoke the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s ruling that invalidated China’s claims delineated by what it said was its nine-dash line.
The ruling was issued in 2016, but Duterte opted to set it aside and opted for friendlier relations with China upon his assumption of office.
Official withdrawal
The Philippines’ withdrawal from the ICC became official on Sunday, March 17, a year after the country informed the United Nations of its plan.
An irked President Duterte made the announcement after the ICC announced a preliminary examination of the two communications filed against him by his critics led by Senator Antonio Trillanes IV over the drug war.
In withdrawing from the tribunal, the Palace cited the principle of complementarity which said the ICC can only investigate genocide, crimes against humanity, among others, if domestic courts were unable to do so.
Duterte also noted the Rome Statute, which creates the ICC, never took effect in the Philippines as it was never published in a newspaper of general circulation nor in the Official Gazette as required of any law for it to take effect.