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MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa could be accorded “institutional courtesy” within the occasion that the Worldwide Legal Courtroom (ICC) points a warrant for his arrest, Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero stated on Monday.
The Senate chief’s place on Dela Rosa promptly drew criticism from a labor coalition that slammed their privileges as lawmakers and from a minimum of one lawmaker who additionally famous Escudero’s stance on the pending impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
READ: Senate can’t save Dela Rosa, says ICC-accredited lawyer
In a press briefing, Escudero stated, “The Senate confronted varied conditions the place there are warrants of arrest in opposition to the senators and the Senate’s choice just isn’t based mostly on the regulation, however relatively on what is known as institutional courtesy—the Senate is not going to permit any of its members to be arrested throughout the Senate, particularly throughout a session.”
Escudero stated, nonetheless, that he would additionally not permit an arrest to occur within the chamber even when Congress just isn’t in session.
“Traditionally, whether or not there’s a session or none, institutional courtesy dictates that no police be allowed to come back in simply to arrest a senator. Two issues occur, they should exhaust all authorized remed[ies], or the senator will voluntarily come out of the Senate,” he stated.
Escudero stated this has been the apply noticed by his predecessors within the Senate presidency and the custom in step with the Senate’s guidelines.
Precedents
He cited a number of situations when regulation enforcement businesses had been barred from arresting sitting senators contained in the Senate constructing, such because the case of former Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, who was charged with “rise up complexed with homicide” in 1990; Gregorio Honasan II, who was charged with rise up in 2006 for the 2003 Oakwood Mutiny; and Panfilo Lacson, who was charged with double homicide in 2010.
Former Senate President Jovito Salonga had barred NBI brokers from serving the warrant on Enrile whereas a Senate session was in progress, instructing Senate safety to bar them from getting into the constructing. Enrile was taken to the NBI workplace the place he was booked and fingerprinted.
Honasan was arrested months after he went into hiding after he jumped from the second ground of a Manila home when the police stormed the constructing. Lacson was by no means served a warrant of arrest as a result of he had already fled the nation and stayed in hiding for 14 months.
Former Sen. Leila de Lima, who was charged with unlawful drug buying and selling in 2017, stayed within the Senate for one night time however surrendered to authorities the subsequent day.
Senators Ramon Revilla Jr. and Jinggoy Estrada additionally surrendered to authorities in 2014 once they had been charged with plunder throughout the 2013 pork barrel scandal.
In September 2018, then Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV evaded arrest after submitting himself to the custody of the Senate. He was ordered to be arrested after former President Rodrigo Duterte invalidated the amnesty granted to the previous mutiny chief for his participation within the July 2003 Oakwood Mutiny and the November 2007 Manila Peninsula incident.
Former Senate President Vicente Sotto III stated upon session with some members of the Senate, they won’t permit any senator to be arrested within the Senate premises “to protect the dignity of the Senate.”
Escudero’s remarks got here following Dela Rosa’s earlier assertion that he would search the Senate’s safety ought to the ICC order his arrest.
Though he was not named within the March 7 warrant issued on former President Rodrigo Duterte, Dela Rosa was repeatedly cited within the prosecution’s utility for the arrest warrant which detailed Duterte’s drug conflict. As former chief of the Davao Metropolis police and later the Philippine Nationwide Police, Dela Rosa was the chief enforcer of that controversial regulation enforcement marketing campaign.
On March 11, when authorities started to hold out the ICC’s arrest warrant on Duterte, Dela Rosa filed earlier than the Supreme Courtroom a “preliminary prohibitory and obligatory injunction” on the federal government’s implementation of that warrant. This prompted authorized consultants to notice that the senator was preempting the ICC and already anticipating that the court docket would concern a warrant for his arrest.
Escudero stated, “It’s not for me to cease Senator Bato from coming right here. That’s his choice. However I suppose the restrict could be till he will get and clarifies what the court docket’s choice might be relating to his entry to judicial cures, which is his proper not solely as a senator however as an strange citizen.”
In an announcement on Monday, Dela Rosa referred to as for “sobriety… even once we really feel so mad due to the injustice.”
He maintained that the federal government’s actions in step with the ICC had been “unlawful as a result of the warrant they’re serving us doesn’t come from a reliable authority.”
‘Wage, advantages’
Reacting to Escudero’s place, the Nagkaisa labor coalition stated partly: “The Senate just isn’t a protected home for fugitives, and [taxpayer] cash isn’t a authorized protection fund for criminals.”
The group stated Dela Rosa “continues to take pleasure in his wage and advantages—courtesy of taxpayers—even whereas dealing with accusations of crimes in opposition to humanity! The place’s the justice in that?”
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Additionally commenting on Escudero’s place, Kabataan Rep. Raoul Manuel stated, “What will we need to educate the youth? That the Senate may very well be shut down for a very long time to keep away from an impeachment trial however opened to offer refuge to an executioner?” —with stories from Jeannette I. Andrade and Inquirer Analysis
