Alvarez belittles ICC case threat amid failed impeach Duterte bid

HOUSE Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez on Tuesday said he is confident that the International Criminal Court (ICC) will not acquire jurisdiction on prosecuting President Rodrigo Duterte following the rejection of the impeachment complaint against him.

"Because in the first place walang jurisdiction ang ICC doon...[Hindi naman pwede na] yung kanilang reklamo eh [kapag] hindi na-address ay pwede na sila pumunta dun sa ICC. Pagkatapos dun, pag hindi pa din sila dininig eh baka sa langit na yung kanilang appeal sa susunod, dun na sila magreklamo," Alvarez said during an ambush interview on Tuesday.

Alvarez also took a jab at Magdalo Partylist Representative Gary Alejano, who filed the impeachment complaint, saying he should have filed it at a "mental hospital" and not before the House of Representatives.

"Dapat sa mental hospital finile iyon, meron jurisdiction ang mental hospital dun...Well yung dismissal na ganun, talagang patay na talaga iyon. Baka na-cremate na nga iyon today," Alvarez said.

The impeachment complaint filed against Duterte was found to be sufficient in form but insufficient in substance by the House of Representative's justice panel during its deliberation Monday.

The 42 panel members who attended the hearing unanimously voted down the impeachment bid, mostly due to the alleged lack of personal knowledge on the part of Alejano, the complainant.

According to Alvarez, there was no need for the justice committee to prolong the impeachment review since the allegations against Duterte have no basis.

"Hindi ko alam, pero parang it looks like hindi na natin pa kailangan mag hearing pa ulit dahil nga wala naman eh. Wala siyang personal knowledge di ba? Lahat ng kino-quote nya puro hearsay. Paano gagawin natin? We continue wasting the time of Congress," he said.

The junking of the complaint against Duterte in effect will immune the President from a similar complaint for one whole year.

May 9, the day the impeachment complaint was referred to the justice panel, will become the reckoning date for the one year impeachment ban rule when applied to Duterte. (SunStar Philippines)

Trending

No stories found.

Just in

No stories found.

Branded Content

No stories found.
SunStar Publishing Inc.
www.sunstar.com.ph