Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Monday, February 16, said his position on possible arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court (ICC) is meant to uphold constitutional safeguards, not to shield Senators Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa and Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go.
Lacson issued the clarification amid criticism over his view that any ICC warrant must pass through Philippine courts before being implemented locally.
“To those who criticize my opinion on the need for a corresponding domestic court order before the ICC warrants of arrest against our fellow senators and others may be implemented, let me be clear: what I am protecting is our country’s legal processes as enshrined in Article III Section 2 of the 1987 Constitution, not Senators Ronald de la Rosa and Bong Go,” Lacson said on X.
He added that differing legal interpretations on the issue should ultimately be settled by the judiciary.
“Despite contrasting legal opinions on the matter, at the proper time, it is only the Supreme Court that will interpret the constitutional provision and legal procedure in this regard,” he said.
Lacson pointed to Article III, Section 2 of the 1987 Constitution, which guarantees the right of the people to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures and requires that warrants of arrest be issued upon probable cause determined personally by a judge.
Under the provision, “(t)he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures of whatever nature and for any purpose shall be inviolable, and no search warrant or warrant of arrest shall issue except upon probable cause to be determined personally by the judge after examination under oath or affirmation of the complainant and the witnesses he may produce, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.”
“(Thus) it does not matter if the warrant is issued by a foreign jurisdiction where extradition is in effect. Article III Section 2, which deals with protection from deprivation of liberty of our citizens, must be respected,” Lacson said.
He said the Senate may take up the matter as early as Wednesday, with the chamber’s legal team expected to examine possible courses of action.
Lacson earlier said dela Rosa and Go should be allowed to exhaust all available legal remedies, emphasizing that any foreign-issued arrest warrant should first be processed through local courts before enforcement in the Philippines.
