MALACAÑANG backed on Tuesday House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s call for the Philippines to withdraw from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) for alleged undue interference in the country’s affairs.
However, several senators rejected the idea, calling it “premature” and based on the “wrong premise.”
Presidential Spokesman Salvador S. Panelo said in a briefing that no international human-rights organization has jurisdiction over the country. “They have been giving conclusions even prior to the investigations and they’ve been besmirching this country; that is precisely why we do not want them to be doing that. And I support the call of Speaker Arroyo,” said Panelo, who is also the chief presidential legal counsel.
The IPU earlier announced plans to send an official mission to the Philippines to look into the alleged political persecution of two opposition senators, Leila M. de Lima and Antonio F. Trillanes IV.
Malacañang insisted that it does not need the help of strangers, asserting that the country’s justice system is still functioning.
“You know, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, they came here and investigated de Lima, and I think Senator Trillanes. And then they made a finding that it seems to them that there was a violation of human rights, that no due process was given to them. And yet—in effect they’re saying that our judicial system is not functioning,” Panelo said.
“In effect they are saying that the court that has acquired jurisdiction over de Lima was wrong in determining probable cause. And there’s an ongoing trial, and then they are saying already that, ‘No, they were not given fair trial.’ They’ve been giving prejudgments. And to our mind, that’s an intrusion, an insult, offensive to the decency of this country, as well as an intrusion to our sovereignty,” he added.
On Monday the Palace also asked IPU to “refrain from commenting further” in relation to the cases involving de Lima and Trillanes “as these are veiled attempts to influence the outcome of the cases, which are now pending before our local courts.”
The IPU adopted two resolutions in its 139th IPU Assembly in Geneva on Thursday, expressing deep concern over the two senators.
In May 2017 members of IPU’s Committee on Human Rights visited Manila to assess the situation of de Lima, a Duterte critic detained since February 2017 and facing charges over her alleged involvement in the illegal-drug trade in the national penitentiary when she was still Justice secretary.
Meanwhile, the amnesty granted to coup plotter Trillanes was declared void ab initio by President Duterte, but the senator dodged arrest on Monday after a Makati court denied the Department of Justice’s motion for an arrest warrant and hold departure order in relation to his coup d’etat charge.
‘Premature’
Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson Sr. on Tuesday called premature and based on wrong premise Arroyo’s proposal for the Philippines to pull out of the IPU.
“First, Speaker Arroyo’s recommendation is based on the wrong premise,” Lacson said, pointing out that “the IPU has yet to act on its Human Rights Committee’s recommendation to the IPU Governing Council.”
Lacson added: “Having said that, it is premature, if at all, to denounce the IPU as a whole, much less withdraw membership from the body.”
He cautioned that withdrawing from the IPU “would imply that the Philippine Senate acknowledges the political persecution of opposition senators.”
For his part, Trillanes cited the recent resolution of his coup d’etat case by the Makati RTC Branch 148 as “proof enough that the judicial process works in our country, and that the separation of powers and the independence of the Judiciary from the Executive and Legislative is evident and clear.”
Moreover, Trillanes said, “it is the Senate, not the House of Representatives, that is a member of the IPU, so I’m not sure where Speaker GMA is coming from,” referring to Mrs. Arroyo.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon described as “despairing and defeatist” Arroyo’s suggestion to pull out of IPU, warning this could be taken to mean that the administration admits it is persecuting Duterte’s critics.
In a separate statement, Drilon advised the House Speaker to “mind her own and we will mind our own.”
‘Meddling’ assailed
This developed as Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III took issue with the IPU Human Rights Committee’s “meddling” with a member country’s judicial procedures.
“Perhaps the IPU’s Human Rights Committee should be reminded that the Philippines is a sovereign state with a working judicial process, and a Constitution that decrees the separation of powers for the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches,” said Sotto.
The Senate leader said IPU’s recommendation to “interfere in our judicial process by calling for the abandoning of legal proceedings against Sen. Leila M. de Lima and an ‘occasional legislative furlough’ for her; and for us, her colleagues in the Senate, to ‘act in solidarity’ with her, smack of arrogance and temerity.”