Senate Minority Leader Koko Pimentel III called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to rethink his stance on the International Criminal Court (ICC) and consider rejoining the international body.
Pimentel made this appeal before members of the diplomatic community during a foreign policy address at the Department of Foreign Affairs recently.
For the former Senate President, rejoining the ICC would act as an “insurance policy” against potential abuses by a leader and in the case the justice system fails.
“Let us rejoin the ICC. We should treat this as our ‘insurance policy’ just in case our system” fails us and we get to elect an abusive, tyrannical, heartless leader, and our justice system fails us too,” the veteran legislator said in his speech.
The Philippines withdrew from the ICC seven years after the ICC, in 2017, announced an investigation into the former administration’s bloody anti-drug campaign.
“The ball is in the President’s court.”
Saying joining the ICC is an executive action, the seasoned lawmaker said the ball is in the President’s court and urged Marcos to sign the necessary documents to reenter the ICC.
At the sidelines of the address, the senator told the media that his proposal for the Philippines to rejoin the ICC would serve as the Filipino people’s recourse against a “killer” and “tyrannical” leader, or when they see that the justice system is failing.
“We are monitoring the Quad Com, and here in the Senate, we also have an investigation. We’ve seen that in the worst-case scenario where our systems fail, such as when our democratic system elects a killer as a leader, one without conscience or compassion, and our justice system is slow to respond. In those events, it’s best to have an ‘insurance policy’,” he said.
In the same forum, Pimentel also recommended that the Philippines join the BRICS alliance.
“Let the Philippines apply to join BRICS.”
“Let the Philippines apply to join BRICS. The march to a multi-polar world is inevitable as such is consistent with human nature. We should support the idea of a multi-polar world,” he said.
By joining BRICS, which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, the Philippines would strengthen its position within a more balanced global power structure, Pimentel added.
He said BRICS is a viable alternative to the current Western-dominated global order.
Pimentel said that it is about time that the Philippines re-calibrate its foreign policy strategy and tactic.
“We should re-calibrate our foreign policy strategy and tactics towards projecting this particular image of the Philippines to the entire world – that the Philippines is a friend to all Nations and is a responsible and law-abiding member of the community of Nations,” he stressed.
Pimentel added: “The ultimate test that we have to pass to say that we have succeeded in this mission is if the Philippines becomes accepted by the rest of the world as their natural choice for a neutral venue for talks, especially those involving the settling of disputes.”
“It is my dream that the Philippines should ‘host talks, not bases’,” he concluded.
