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ICC worried about PH withdrawal from Rome Statute -- Sotto

Published Mar 20, 2018 06:22 pm
By Vanne Elaine Terrazola

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is rattling about the Philippines’ withdrawal from the Rome Statute because it would lose "a big chunk" of its funds, Sen. Vicente Sotto III claimed today.

Senate Majority Floor Leader Vicente Sotto III (Eugene Loriz Malasig / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO) Sen Tito Sotto during a hearing at senate on april 13, 2015(Eugene Loriz Malasig)

In an interview with reporters, Sotto said the ICC is fearing that other signatories in the Rome Statute will follow suit after the country has formally withdrawn its membership from the international tribunal.

In a Twitter post yesterday, the Senate Majority Floor Leader claimed that the ICC "refuses" to let Philippines get out of the treaty because of its contribution to the high court's operating funds.

"Our last payment to ICC was €397,896 or P25,404,938. Kaya pala ayaw tayo paalisin!" he said in his tweet.

Sotto today said this was according to an audit report by the ICC, which he later gave to some reporters.

An ICC committee report dated November 3, 2017 showed the Philippines had contributed €397,896 to the high court's fund in 2017. The document states that the country settled its contribution in March last year.

The amount makes up about 0.28 percent of the €144,587,306 the ICC has collected from the contributions of its 124 state-signatories in 2017.

Under the Rome Statue, member-states are required to pay their annual contribution to the ICC. In addition to their annual contributions to the court's budget, states can make voluntary contributions to special funds, such as the Trust Fund for Victims, the Special Funds for Family Visits, or the Special Funds for Relocations.

"Palagay ko kinakabahan sila dun, eh 'di ang laki ng mawawala sa kanilang pondo (I think they are already nervous because they will lose a big chunk of their fund)," he said.

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, meanwhile, brushed off the ICC's continued examination on President Duterte's war against drugs despite the country's withdrawal from the treaty.

"I'm not worried about the case against the President because it will not amount to war crime, genocide, crimes against humanity. Because definition of these three crimes are Hilter-like crimes. Did those happen here? No," Pimentel said.

The Duterte ally earlier said the complaints against his administration will be dismissed due to the ICC's lack of jurisdiction.

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