Padilla wants ICC to pay damages if it fails to prove PH justice system isn’t working

The International Criminal Court (ICC) must pay damages to the Philippines if it fails to prove that the criminal justice system in the country is not functioning, Senator Robin Padilla said Thursday.

“Ang kukulit niyo na…Kapag di nila napatunayan ‘yan siguro singilin natin sila ng damages… Dahil sa totoo lang ‘yung paulit-ulit nilang sinasabi na ang mga Pilipino ay palpak at kailangan nilang pumunta dito at mag-imbestiga, eh siguro dapat maningil na tayo ng damages,” he said in an interview with reporters.

(They're so persistent. If they are not able to prove it we should demand damages...They keep saying that Filipinos are failures and they need to come here to investigate, so we should demand damages.)

He said the damages would be payment for supposedly destroying the country's reputation on the international stage.

“Yung ibinabato sa atin ng ICC, nakakainsulto ito…Parang sinasabi nito na tayo ay una, mga engot. Tayong mga Pilipino engot dahil hindi natin alam na 'yung gobyerno natin hindi tumatakbo nang tama. Pangalawa, ‘yung mga nasa gobyerno natin isa’t-kalahating engot din,” he said.

(What the ICC is accusing us of is insulting...it's like they're saying that, first of all, that we are idiots. We are idiots because we do not know that our government is not running properly. Second, that the people in our government are even bigger idiots.)

“Kung pukulan lang ng pagka-engot e baka mas engot sila. Eh bakit ngayon e gumagawa sila ng gulo doon sa lugar nila at tayo dito ang layo-layo natin naapektuhan tayo. Hindi ba dapat imbestigahan muna nila kung ano ang nasa bakuran nila bago sila pumunta sa Asia?” he quipped.

(If we're hurling around stupidities then maybe they're stupider. Why do they have conflict where they are and we are affected by it even if we're far away. Shouldn't they investigate what's going on in their backyard before going to Asia?)

On Thursday Padilla also said that if the ICC arrests Senator Ronald Dela Rosa then he too should go to jail as well as he also supported Duterte's deadly drug war. 

Recently, the ICC rejected the Philippine government’s appeal seeking the reversal of the international tribunal’s decision to resume its probe into the Duterte administration's controversial war on drugs.

In rejecting the Philippines' appeal, the ICC Appeals Chamber said the government failed to explain the Court's lack of jurisdiction or to provide an explanation of the implications and scope of the investigation.

It also said that the local investigation can proceed even with the ongoing ICC investigation.

After its appeal was junked, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said the Philippines will be "disengaging” from any contact or communication with the ICC.

In February, Marcos said he would not cooperate with the inquiry of the ICC into the abuses in the campaign against illegal drugs of the previous administration. — BM, GMA Integrated News