House Committee on Human Rights chair. Benny Abante | The Source - video Dailymotion

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More lawmakers urge the Marcos administration to cooperate with the International Criminal Court's drug war probe.  Pinky Webb speaks with House Committee on Human Rights chairperson Benny Abante.  Visit our website for more #NewsYouCanTrust: https://www.cnnphilippines.com/  Follow our social media pages:  • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CNNPhilippines • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cnnphilippines/ • Twitter: https://twitter.com/cnnphilippines

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00:00 You're watching The Source on CNN Philippines. I'm Pinky Webb. More House lawmakers have

00:05 filed a resolution urging President Bombo Marcos to cooperate with the International

00:10 Criminal Courts Investigation into the Duterte administration's bloody war on drugs. House

00:14 Resolution 1477 calls on the administration to extend its full cooperation to the ICC

00:21 prosecutor. At least two other similar resolutions have been filed by the minority bloc. Our

00:27 source today, let's go to him, House Committee on Human Rights Chairperson Representative

00:32 Benny Abate. Congressman Abate, welcome to The Source, sir. Thank you so much for your

00:35 time.

00:36 Good morning. Good morning, Pinky.

00:39 Let me start with this, Congressman, so we have a better idea on your stand. What was

00:45 your stand regarding the ICC's investigation into the war on drugs of the Duterte administration

00:52 then?

00:55 During the time of the former president, I have fully supported his stand on that, that

01:01 the ICC should not come to the Philippines. But the thing is this, it has been going on

01:06 for what, for the past six or seven years, and I begin to realize it will never stop,

01:11 see, as long as there will always be accusation among some of our people here to the ICC.

01:17 So therefore, to put a period to this, why don't we just allow the ICC to come in and

01:21 investigate? Anyway, it would be the Philippine government, to the right of justice, that

01:26 would give parameters as far as the investigation is concerned.

01:31 But why, you said that it's taken six to seven years, so you're saying that it's the time

01:37 that actually made you change your mind?

01:40 Well, you see, I think it is high time for us to be, sa akin lang, sa akin lang, Pinky,

01:47 to really put a stop to this accusation. Because, as we say, I believe that our criminal justice

01:55 system here in the Philippines is working and it is credible. Although the ICC is accusing

02:02 us that there is a delay. Now, my argument is, ano ba ang bansa na hindi delayed ang kanina

02:10 criminal justice system. All of the nations are. So to be able to stop this wild accusation

02:19 against our criminal justice system, let them come over here to be able to find out that

02:24 our criminal justice system is working good.

02:27 Anyway, meron naman tayong deklarasyon sa ating state policies. Declaration of principles

02:34 and state policies under the Constitution. Eto, I would like to quote, no? The Philippines

02:40 adopts the generally accepted principles of international law as what? As part of the

02:47 law of the land. And adheres to the policy of peace, equality, justice, freedom, cooperation,

02:53 and amity with all nations. Then let's prove that. And I believe that when the ICC comes

02:58 over here, then they're going to really realize, oh, meron pala ta, magenta pa rito, we are

03:03 upholding the rule of law. The criminal justice system is working good. We are even protecting

03:11 human rights.

03:12 Hindi ko kaya sumama ang loob sa inyo ni former President Rodrigo Duterte, somebody who has

03:19 always believed that the ICC should not come here and then all of a sudden, six, seven

03:23 years later, files a resolution and says, urging the Marcos administration to cooperate

03:28 with the ICC, sir?

03:29 Alam mo naman, hindi naman 'to personalan, no? I believe that even the former President

03:36 is level-headed being a lawyer. And sometimes he is very passionate and emotional in his

03:42 statement. But I believe he still believes in the rule of law. And I believe that ako

03:47 rin, no? I would like to put a stop on this. Now, of course, I just would like our people

03:54 to know that the Philippines, through the Senate, ratified the Rome Statute on August

04:01 30, 2011, no? It was then-Senator Mariam Santiago who did that, di ba? Ngayon, the President,

04:10 the former President has actually withdrew our membership of the ICC. The question is,

04:18 can he just withdraw alone? Or it must also be agreed upon by the Senate and by the House?

04:27 You see, therefore, if there is no agreement between the Senate and the House with the

04:34 withdrawal of the former President, then the withdrawal doesn't have any effect at all,

04:40 you see? Now, even the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court has agreed to that, no? Despite

04:47 the country's withdrawal from the Rome Statute, what did the Supreme Court say? It says the

04:53 ICC retains jurisdiction over any and all acts committed by the government actors until

05:00 March 17 of 2019. That was the time that the President, the former President, withdrew

05:07 our membership. Right. No, actually, sorry, sir, 2019, it took effect. The withdrawal

05:13 happened in 2018, but it takes a year before its effectivity. So, Congressman, you were

05:22 saying, just quickly, this needs to be clarified. You were saying that, are you saying that

05:28 it's a question of it needs the concurrence of the Senate and the House? Did you say and

05:33 the House, sir? Well, it might be the Senate alone, but I would think that it should be

05:41 have the concurrence of the Senate regarding this. Perhaps even the House must agree to

05:46 it. Perhaps, but the House did not ratify this. It was just the Senate. No, no, no.

05:52 The Senate did it. So now you're even saying you might have to take a step further and

05:57 possibly even have the House, ganun ho ba, tama ho ba, either accept this withdrawal

06:04 or not. I'm looking into it right now. If the House must also concur with this, not

06:12 just the Senate ratifying it. Are you talking about, obviously, future, maybe treaties that

06:21 we have to enter into or this particular one, sir? This particular one, the ICC investigation.

06:29 I see. All right. So jan po kayo, jan po kayo nakasentro. Baka sakaling kailangan din ng

06:35 concurrence ng House dito po sa pag-withdraw ni Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte sa pagsapi dito

06:41 sa ICC. All right. So that's clear, sir. So, but this is the first time that a majority

06:48 member, please correct me if I'm wrong, sir, that a majority member filed a resolution

06:53 calling for the government to cooperate. Is this correct, sir?

06:58 Yes, yes. It's the first time that the majority member did it, being the chairman of the Committee

07:05 on Human Rights.

07:06 Yeah. So let me ask you this, sir. Last month, it was the Makabayan bloc also that filed

07:12 a similar resolution. This is 1393, basically also calling on the Marcos administration

07:20 to cooperate with the ICC. This was filed sometime in October after one of the presidents,

07:29 the former president rather, televised interview. Why was it not taken then? And then when you

07:37 filed it, and you told me during, before we went on air that you filed it sometime Tuesday,

07:43 bigla pong tinik up yung inyong resolution. But their resolution that was filed a month

07:48 ago was not really given much thought or action.

07:53 Actually, actually, I don't know, Pinky, you know. In fact, it was even a surprise to me

07:59 that when I filed the resolution, it was actually taken up immediately. Perhaps the leadership

08:05 begin to realize there is now a majority member of Congress who filed a resolution. So I think

08:12 that ought to be taken up, particularly because I am the chairman of the Committee on Human

08:17 Rights.

08:18 Yes, you are.

08:19 So I think it's the resolution filed by the Makabayan bloc. I do not have any knowledge

08:23 of that for a while.

08:25 I see. So this was filed sometime in October. But when you said that maybe the leadership

08:30 thought it was necessary to look into this, when you talk about leadership, who is this,

08:36 sir?

08:37 Well, I'm talking about, for example, like the Speaker of the House and the majority

08:42 leader and the Committee on Rules, you know, looking at the resolution. And not only that,

08:50 but I'd like our people to know also through your program that there is no personalities

08:56 involved in the resolution, unlike the other resolutions in which the former president

09:04 was really appointed.

09:05 Here in my resolution, it is actually upholding the rule of law. This resolution is about

09:11 principles, not personalities. I believe that the rule of law is a sacrosanct principle.

09:19 So therefore, this is what I'm advocating here, Pinky.

09:24 All right. Congressman, I just need to take a very short break. We'll be right back.

09:30 Let's go straight to the source of the story of House Committee on Human Rights Chairperson,

09:39 Benny Abate. Congressman, you're a member of the NUP, right? The National Unity Party?

09:45 Yeah, I'm a member of the NUP, yes.

09:50 And Congressman Paolo Duterte is also a member of NUP, sir?

09:56 Yes, I think so. I think he's an honorary member. I don't know if he's really a member

10:01 of the NUP.

10:02 Does it become a little odd, sir, that you are asking the Marcos administration to look

10:10 into this and then you are a party to the son of former President Duterte, sir?

10:19 I don't know about Congressman Paolo's feeling about this, but I just would like to assure

10:24 him that this is not against his own father when it comes to the resolution.

10:31 But do you have the support of the NUP? And how many members are there that belong to

10:36 the NUP?

10:37 You know, Pinky, I really do not know if I have the support of all of the NUP members

10:42 because I believe that they are also independent as far as the decision is concerned on this.

10:49 It's not actually a party decision.

10:52 Personal?

10:53 This is my own decision.

10:55 My own decision, personally. That's right.

10:57 Congressman, may I ask you to react on what Senator Aimee Marcos was saying when she heard

11:01 about this resolution. Basically, she said that this is a big embarrassment. It shows,

11:06 we're saying that our courts are not working here. In fact, she went on to say, look at

11:12 former Senator Lila de Lima. She's out on bail. So she cannot understand and accept

11:18 this resolution because it's embarrassing.

11:22 Well, you know, Senator Aimee is a good friend. But for me, it's embarrassing if we will stop

11:30 the ICC to come over here, while they should know what's really happening. For example,

11:36 like Aimee, we follow the own clause as far as the problem of the West Philippine Sea

11:44 is concerned. We believe in arbitral ruling of the UN concerning this. We are actually

11:52 asking China to abide with arbitral ruling. But then we are against the ICC coming over

12:00 here. That would be perhaps more hypocritical. Am I right?

12:04 House Committee on Human Rights Chairperson Benny Abantes, sir, thank you so much for

12:08 your time.

12:10 Thank you. Thank you, Pinky.

12:12 And thank you for joining us here on The Source. I'm Pinky Webb. You're watching CNN Philippines.

12:16 [MUSIC]

12:22 (dramatic music)

House Committee on Human Rights chair. Benny Abante | The Source

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