Senator Miriam Santiago is PHL bet for int'l crime court

The Philippines marked International Humanitarian Law (IHL) on Friday by formally announcing the bid of a Philippine senator to gain a seat in the International Criminal Court (ICC). Acting Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Antonio Rodriguez announced Senator Miriam Santiago’s candidacy for the ICC at a symposium titled “Protecting against Impunity as an Instrument of Peace" held in the Bulwagang Apolinario Mabini at the DFA last Friday. “(With Santiago’s candidature), the Philippines signifies its intention to directly and actually fight against impunity for the most serious crimes of international concern," he said in a DFA news release posted on its website late Friday night. For her part, Santiago said she foresees campaigning in The Hague and New York in the coming months, for the December elections. “I was told this afternoon that Secretary Del Rosario nominated me and President Benigno Aquino III has endorsed and approved the nomination. So I’ll have to campaign all over again," she said in an interview aired on dzBB radio. She said she may have to go to The Hague, where the ICC is located, by end-September to campaign there; and another campaign in New York in October. The DFA said Santiago was nominated “for her expertise in international humanitarian law, experience in criminal law and known advocacy for the Rome Statute of the ICC." The 2011 ICC Elections will be held from December 12 to 21 at the 10th session of the Assembly of States Parties in New York. Santiago was at the symposium to deliver the keynote address. “By joining the ICC, the Philippines has become a party to institutionalizing the Rule of Law in dealing with the perpetrators of international crimes enjoying impunity, while affirming their rights as accused before the ICC," she said in her address. According to Santiago, this historic milestone is the fruit of the combined efforts of the Aquino administration, the Senate and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which have lobbied the government to pass the Rome Statute of the ICC for more than a decade. Also present during the symposium to give messages were International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Deputy Head of Delegation Christoph Sutter and Col. Domingo Tutaan of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Human Rights Office. Meanwhile, Dr. Aurora Parong of the Philippine Coalition for the International Criminal Court (PCICC) also lauded the Philippines’ compliance to international humanitarian standards during the event. It included discussions on International Humanitarian Law (IHL), the ICC and Republic Act 9851, also known as the Philippine Act on Crimes against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes against Humanity. — JE/LBG, GMA News