SC has no jurisdiction over ICC – Carpio

A RETIRED associate justice of the Supreme Court said the tribunal has no jurisdiction over the International Criminal Court (ICC) and that petitions before it from the camp of former president Rodrigo Duterte were futile. In a television interview on Wednesday, retired Supreme Court senior associate justice Antonio Carpio said the petition to obtain a temporary restraining order (TRO) to stop Duterte's arrest was moot and academic because Duterte was already at The Hague, where he is facing charges of crimes against humanity for the thousands of deaths in his bloody war on drugs. "They cannot stop him anymore, because the Court cannot issue a TRO if they want to stop the flight, [because] the plane already left," he said in Filipino and English. Carpio said the ruling was correct, because the TRO is a special case, and they need a clear legal right, which the Duterte camp did not have. He also said two other petitions that seek to bring home Duterte were also futile. "That can't be done because the Supreme Court has no jurisdiction over the ICC. They cannot order [the ICC] to bring him home," he said. "As far as ordering the government to stop, there's nothing to stop ... you cannot order a return when he's in another country that's covered by another jurisdiction," Carpio added. He said the relevant Philippine authorities may decide to surrender an accused individual to the ICC. "The Philippines has a choice to file a case here or if the case is filed in another court abroad, the Philippines should turn him over at the discretion of the Philippine authorities," he said. Carpio said he expects Duterte will appear before a pretrial chamber to confirm the charges of crimes against humanity against him, and if he wants to question the validity of the arrest by the ICC, and he can file a motion for reconsideration on the warrant of arrest of the ICC. He can also post bail. "The ICC rules allow for the accused to ask for bail in very special circumstances, but [Duterte] will have a hard time, because he is a flight risk. He doesn't even want to honor the warrant of arrest, so I doubt it will be granted, but there is a provision there that he can ask for a temporary release, but that's up to the ICC," he said. Should bail be granted, citing the ICC rules, Duterte needs to remain in The Hague, in the jurisdiction of the court.