Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
represented by Rep.
SATUR OCAMPO, Rep.
CRISPIN BELTRAN, and
Rep. LIZA L. MAZA,
Petitioner,
- versus -
DECISION
VELASCO, JR., J.:
The Case
The Facts
The Issues
I.
D. Whether
the RP-US
Non-Surrender
Agreement is void and unenforceable for
grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack
II. WHETHER
THE RP-US
NON
SURRENDER
AGREEMENT IS
VOID AB
INITIO FOR
CONTRACTING OBLIGATIONS THAT ARE EITHER
IMMORAL OR OTHERWISE AT VARIANCE WITH
UNIVERSALLY
RECOGNIZED
PRINCIPLES
OF
INTERNATIONAL LAW.
whether
denominated executive agreements or exchange of notes or
otherwise begin, may sometimes be difficult of ready
ascertainment.[31][31] x x x
It is fairly clear from the foregoing disquisition that E/N BFO028-03be it viewed as the Non-Surrender Agreement itself, or
as an integral instrument of acceptance thereof or as consent to
be boundis a recognized mode of concluding a legally binding
international written contract among nations.
the Senate for its ratification may not be used to amend a treaty
that, under the Constitution, is the product of the ratifying acts of
the Executive and the Senate. The presence of a treaty,
purportedly being subject to amendment by an executive
agreement, does not obtain under the premises.
It
is
the
petitioners
next
contention
that
the Agreement undermines the establishment of the ICC and is
null and void insofar as it unduly restricts the ICCs jurisdiction
and infringes upon the effectivity of the Rome Statute. Petitioner
posits that the Agreement was constituted solely for the purpose
of providing individuals or groups of individuals with immunity
Article 1
The Court
Article 98
xxxx
2.
The Court may not proceed with a request for
surrender which would require the requested State to act
inconsistently with its obligations under international
agreements pursuant to which the consent of a sending State
is required to surrender a person of that State to the Court,
unless the Court can first obtain the cooperation of the
sending State for the giving of consent for the surrender.
Petitioner
next
argues
that
the
RP has,
through
the Agreement, abdicated its sovereignty by bargaining away the
jurisdiction of the ICC to prosecute US nationals, government
officials/employees or military personnel who commit serious
crimes of international concerns in the Philippines. Formulating
petitioners argument a bit differently, the RP, by entering into
the Agreement, does thereby abdicate its sovereignty, abdication
being done by its waiving or abandoning its right to seek recourse
The Court need not delve on and belabor the first portion of
the above posture of petitioner, the same having been discussed
at length earlier on. As to the second portion, We wish to state
that petitioner virtually faults the President for performing,
through respondents, a task conferred the President by the
Constitutionthe power to enter into international agreements.
In thus agreeing to conclude the Agreement thru E/N BFO028-03, then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, represented by
the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, acted within the scope of the
authority and discretion vested in her by the Constitution. At the
end of the day, the Presidentby ratifying, thru her deputies, the
non-surrender agreementdid nothing more than discharge a
constitutional duty and exercise a prerogative that pertains to her
office.
We are unable to lend cogency to the view thus taken. For one,
we find that the Agreement does not amend or is repugnant to RA
9851. For another, the view does not clearly state what precise
principles of law, if any, the Agreement alters. And for a third, it
does not demonstrate in the concrete how the Agreement seeks
to frustrate the objectives of the principles of law subsumed in the
Rome Statute.
The view makes much of the above quoted second par. of Sec. 17,
RA 9851 as requiring the Philippine State to surrender to the
proper international tribunal those persons accused of crimes
sanctioned under said law if it does not exercise its primary
jurisdiction to prosecute such persons. This view is not entirely
correct, for the above quoted proviso clearly
provides discretion to the Philippine State on whether to
surrender or not a person accused of the crimes under RA 9851.
The statutory proviso uses the word may. It is settled doctrine
in statutory construction that the word may denotes discretion,
and cannot be construed as having mandatory effect. [73][73] Thus,
the pertinent second pararagraph of Sec. 17, RA 9851 is simply
permissive on the part of the Philippine State.
1091. Genocide
(a)
Basic Offense Whoever, whether in the
time of peace or in time of war and with
specific intent to destroy, in whole or in
substantial part, a national, ethnic, racial or
religious group as such
(1) kills members of that group;
(2) causes serious bodily injury to members
of that group;
(3) causes the permanent impairment of the
mental faculties of members of the group
through
drugs,
torture,
or
similar
techniques;
(4) subjects the group to conditions of life
that are intended to cause the physical
destruction of the group in whole or in part;
(5) imposes measures intended to prevent
births within the group; or
(6) transfers by force children of the group
to another group;
shall be punished as provided in subsection (b).[81][81]
Arguing further, another view has been advanced that the current
US laws do not cover every crime listed within the jurisdiction of
the ICC and that there is a gap between the definitions of the
different crimes under the US laws versus the Rome Statute. The
view used a report written by Victoria K. Holt and Elisabeth W.
Dallas, entitled On Trial: The US Military and the International
Criminal Court, as its basis.
At the outset, it should be pointed out that the report used
may not have any weight or value under international law. Article
38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) lists the
sources of international law, as follows: (1) international
conventions, whether general or particular, establishing rules
expressly recognized by the contesting states; (2) international
custom, as evidence of a general practice accepted as law; (3)
the general principles of law recognized by civilized nations; and
Assuming arguendo that the report has weight, still, the perceived
gaps in the definitions of the crimes are nonexistent. To
highlight, the table below shows the definitions of genocide and
war crimes under the Rome Statute vis--vis the definitions under
US laws:
Rome Statute
Article 6
Genocide
For the purpose of this Statute,
genocide means any of the
following acts committed with intent
to destroy, in whole or in part, a
national, ethnical, racial or religious
group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental
harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group
conditions of life calculated to
bring
about
its
physical
destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to
prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of
the group to another group.
US Law
1091. Genocide
(a)
Basic Offense Whoever,
whether in the time of peace or in
time of war and with specific intent to
destroy, in whole or in substantial
part, a national, ethnic, racial or
religious group as such
(1) kills members of that group;
(2)
causes serious bodily injury to
members of that group;
(3)
causes
the
permanent
impairment of the mental
faculties of members of the
group through drugs, torture, or
similar techniques;
(4)
subjects
the
group
to
conditions of life that are
intended to cause the physical
destruction of the group in
whole or in part;
(5)
imposes measures intended to
Article 8
War Crimes
2. For the purpose of this Statute,
war crimes means:
(a) Grave breaches of the Geneva
Conventions of 12 August 1949,
namely, any of the following acts
against persons or property protected
under the provisions of the relevant
Geneva Convention: x x x[84][84]
(b) Other serious violations of the
laws and customs applicable in
international armed conflict, within
the established framework of
international law, namely, any of the
following acts:
xxxx
(c) In the case of an armed conflict
not of an international character,
serious violations of article 3 common
to the four Geneva Conventions of 12
August 1949, namely, any of the
following acts committed against
persons taking no active part in the
hostilities, including members of
armed forces who have laid down
their arms and those placed hors de
combat by sickness, wounds,
detention or any other cause:
xxxx
not for the speculations of their authors concerning what the law ought to
be, but for the trustworthy evidence of what the law really is.[90][90] (Emphasis
supplied.)
This rule finds an even stronger hold in the case of crimes against
humanity. It has been held that genocide, war crimes and crimes
against humanity have attained the status of customary
international law. Some even go so far as to state that these
crimes have attained the status of jus cogens.[99][99]
xxxx
The initial factor for determining the existence of custom is the actual
behavior of states. This includes several elements: duration, consistency,
and generality of the practice of states.
xxxx
xxxx
SO ORDERED.
PRESBITERO J. VELASCO,
JR.
Associate Justice
[1][1]
[30][30]