MANILA, Philippines – Detained Senator Leila de Lima said President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to withdraw the Philippines from the International Criminal Court (ICC) not only benefits the controversial Philippine leader but also his “patron,” China.

De Lima made the statement two weeks after the Philippines officially left the ICC, and following reports of Chinese vessels seen near Pag-Asa Island in the West Philippine Sea.

“Duterte’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute becomes nothing more than a self-serving act that also favored his Chinese patron, with the Philippines as the major loser,” she said in a dispatch from her detention cell on Saturday, April 6. 

Non-membership to the court places the Philippines in a dangerous position, especially in the face of China’s creeping encroachment.

“Because as sure as anything, Duterte will continue to commit crimes against humanity on his countrymen, and China will continue to commit acts of aggression against Filipino fisherfolks beyond March 17, 2019. The Philippines has just been stripped naked of ICC protection from both,” De Lima said.

Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio had said as much. In October 2018, he warned that Duterte’s unilateral withdrawal from the ICC would weaken the Philippines’ position against China.

The Philippines’ membership to the ICC effectively ended on March 17 – a year after Duterte announced was withdrawing the country from the court. (READ: Duterte throws out decade-long fight for the International Criminal Court) 

The ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor is currently conducting a preliminary examination on whether or not it has jurisdiction to investigate the drug war killings in the Philippines under Duterte. 

Two days before the withdrawal took effect, former  foreign secretary Albert del Rosario and former ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales submitted a communication to the ICC which stated that President Xi Jinping and other Chinese officials have committed crimes “which involve massive, near-permanent, and devastating environmental damage across nations.”

The communication, they said, was to “check impunity” in the disputed South China Sea.

“We demand accountability from those who destroy marine areas, and we want to check impunity as a deterrent to progress,” Morales said. – Rappler.com