ICC: Arrest warrants must remain 'secret'
An amendment to the International Criminal Court’s Regulations of the Court took effect on Nov. 10, prohibiting the public announcement of arrest warrants or summons to appear.
The new regulation “provides that applications for arrest warrants or summons to appear, pursuant to article 58 of the Rome Statute, are to be classified as secret or under seal, unless otherwise authorized by a Chamber,” the ICC said in a press release dated Nov. 10.
Explaining the amendment, assistant to counsel for ICC Atty. Kristina Conti wrote on Facebook, “What this means is that, whether a warrant has indeed been issued or is still to be issued, it is most likely not intended to be made known to the public—until of course a suspect has been brought to the court.”
“Considerations for publicizing or not publicizing a warrant include whether this could interrupt criminal conduct, deter the commission of other crimes, or maximise opportunities for the arrest,” added Conti.
This development, said the ICC, helps achieve the judges’ goals of continuous improvement and harmonious procedures of the Court.
It was approved by the plenary of ICC judges after being placed before the Court’s Advisory Committee on Legal Texts. The committee consists of three judges, each representing one division: the Office of the Prosecutor, the Registry, and a representative of counsel included in the Court’s list of counsel.
According to the ICC, the amendment will be circulated to States Parties for their comments. If there are no objections from a majority of States Parties after six months, the amendment will remain.
Unconfirmed warrant of arrest
The new directive was demonstrated earlier this week when ICC refused to confirm or deny a claim by Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla that the Court had already issued a warrant of arrest against Sen. Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa.
On Nov. 8, Remulla said in a DZRH interview that there was already a warrant of arrest against dela Rosa, allegedly in connection with the senator's involvement in former president Rodrigo Duterte's "war on drugs" during his term.
Dela Rosa served as the chief of the Philippine National Police while Duterte was in office.
“I have it in good authority [to disclose] because this is a public interest program, that the ICC has issued a warrant against Sen. Bato dela Rosa; a warrant of arrest,” Remulla said.
However, soon after, both the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Justice denied they had been notified by the Interpol about such a warrant.
ICC spokesperson Fadi El Abdallah, in a message to reporters on Nov. 11, did not confirm the reports, either.
"No, the ICC can't confirm such news," when asked about Remulla's statement by the media. "ICC news can be found only on ICC official communications channels and press releases, where you could see that only one case to date has been opened, against Mr. Duterte."
Duterte was arrested on March 11 by the PNP and Interpol under an ICC warrant, which charged the former president with alleged crimes against humanity related to the drug war.
DOJ clarifies government's extradition and surrender options
On Nov. 11, the Department of Justice held a press conference in response to the controversy surrounding dela Rosa's unconfirmed ICC warrant of arrest. According to Chief State Counsel Dennis Chan, "It was mentioned that the process to be observed in implementing this warrant of arrest is through extradition."
The DOJ wanted to address any misconceptions regarding the statement.
Chan explained that under RA 9851, the state has two options available to it: extradition and surrender.
RA 9851, according to the Supreme Court E-Library, refers to "an act defining and penalizing crimes against international humanitarian law, genocide and other crimes against humanity..."
"To close the door on one option and just focus entirely on extradition is limiting the state's discretion under Section 17 of RA 9851," said Chan.
Of the two options, the faster one to implement would be surrender. The more technical extradition route would involve a request for extradition being sent to the Department of Foreign Affairs, which would then transmit the request to the Department of Justice for evaluation. The DOJ will then file the request in the proper trial court; a pseudo hearing will take place to determine if the request is compliant with the extradition law of the Philippines. Only after all those steps can the suspect be extradited.
Extradition will take months; surrender will be a shorter process.
Prosecutor General Richard Fadulon confirmed that dela Rosa's status as an incumbent senator has no bearing on immunity to an arrest.
"There is no such thing as immunity even if you are a legislator," Fadulon said. At the same time, he said that all this is theoretical as the DOJ has not seen a copy of any warrant of arrest.
If there would be a warrant, it would be first coursed through the DFA and the Philippine Center for Transnational Crimes.
