MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Panfilo "Ping" Lacson on Wednesday said that Philippine courts must be respected and local legal procedures observed if Sen. Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa is arrested, saying these are essential to ensuring his constitutional right to due process.
Lacson said Dela Rosa should be placed under the custody of a Philippine court, even in a ministerial capacity, if authorities apprehend him so he can avail himself of all legal remedies available under Philippine law, including recourse to the Supreme Court.
"That's part of due process — if he is arrested, he may be placed under the custody of a local court where he can avail of all legal remedies up to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court will be the final arbiter of the law," Lacson said in an interview on DZMM radio.
He cited Section 17 of Republic Act No. 9851, or the Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity, which establishes the country's jurisdiction over persons suspected or accused of crimes covered by the law under specified circumstances.
These include cases in which the accused is a Filipino citizen, is present in the Philippines regardless of citizenship or residence, or has committed the alleged crime against a Filipino citizen.
However, the law also allows Philippine authorities, in the interest of justice, to defer investigation or prosecution when another court or international tribunal is already investigating or prosecuting the same crime.
Authorities may instead surrender or extradite the accused to the appropriate international court or another state, subject to applicable laws and treaties.
"No criminal proceedings shall be initiated against foreign nationals suspected or accused of having committed the crimes defined and penalized in this Act if they have been tried by a competent court outside the Philippines in respect of the same offense and acquitted, or having been convicted, already served their sentence," the law read.
Lacson also cited Article 17 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which provides that a case may be deemed inadmissible before the ICC if it is being investigated or prosecuted by a state with jurisdiction over it, unless that state is unwilling or unable genuinely to carry out the proceedings.
The same provision covers cases in which a state has investigated an alleged crime but decided not to prosecute, unless the decision resulted from its unwillingness or inability to genuinely pursue the case.
Lacson further invoked Article III, Section 2 of the 1987 Constitution, which protects Filipinos against unreasonable searches and seizures and requires that arrest warrants be issued by judges upon a determination of probable cause.
He also recalled signing a Senate resolution expressing the chamber's position that Filipinos should be protected against extraordinary rendition and given reasonable time before their surrender or extradition from the country to seek judicial relief and exhaust available legal remedies.
"Our local courts should be respected. If he is arrested, he should be placed under the custody of the local court, even if this is ministerial because the local court is not handling his case so it cannot determine his guilt or innocence. It's almost ministerial but just the same, we have our law and it should be respected," Lacson said.
"Even subpoenas and summonses issued by international or foreign courts must go through Philippine local or regional trial courts, which will issue the corresponding subpoenas and summonses," he added.
