Stupid is as stupid does

"Del Rosario and Carpio-Morales should have known better."

Last week, former foreign affairs Albert del Rosario and former government Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales filed a case at the International Criminal Court against China’s President Xi Jinping for so-called “crimes against humanity.” 

A DFA undersecretary who used to closely work with Del Rosario confided his bewilderment about this action of the former secretary, “This can be anything but be called a ‘stunt.’”

However, the problem for our country is that this stunt can be a source of ridicule for the entire Philippines, aside from the fact it could disrupt the gains of the fledgling China-Philippines cooperation today.

While I may not be aware of Del Rosario’s background in legal expertise, Carpio-Morales, being a former Supreme Court justice and top honcho of the Office of the Ombudsman, is expected to be a luminary in legal affairs. She should thus know that is the ICC has no jurisdiction over China, the latter not being a member of the ICC.

In fact, when ICC declared it would continue its investigation of President Rodrigo Duterte’s alleged human rights violation arising from his war against illegal drugs, despite the country’s withdrawal as the alleged crime took place when the Philippines was still an ICC member, it was meant to connote that any crime that takes place after the country withdrew its members from the ICC, would no longer be subjected to any investigation or prosecution as it is no longer under the jurisdiction of the International Court.

Further, when the ICC was established in 2002, the member countries adopted the Rome Statute which provided for the ICC to have jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. 

Article 7 of the Treaty clearly defines the scope of “crimes against humanity” and it lists the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack: (a) murder; (b) extermination; (c) enslavement; (d) deportation of forcible transfer of population; (e) imprisonment or severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law;

(f) torture; (h) persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural,religious,genderas defined in paragraph 3, or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law, in connection with any act referred to in this paragraph or any crime within the jurisdiction of the Court; 

(i) enforced disappearance of persons; (j) apertheid; and (k) other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health;

I just cannot see where the territorial dispute with China fits in with the accusation of a crime against humanity. 

Of course I would be more than happy when the day comes that those disputed territories will finally be under the sovereignty of the Philippines. Who wouldn’t be? 

But please file the proper case in a proper venue. Filing a case just like the one filed by del Rosario and Carpio-Morales just for the sake of filing one, in a venue which doesn’t have even an iota of authority, could betray its very purpose. That it could have been done in furtherance of the opposition’s propaganda against the administration especially now that the opposition candidates in the forthcoming elections hdon’t even have a chance of winning even as the first ballot in the May polls has yet to be cast.

But what aggravates the matter was when Vice President Leni Robredo opened her mouth in support of the del Rosario-Carpio-Morales case, with her ignorance of the issue in full display.

According to Robredo, the complaint filed by Del Rosario and Carpio-Morales against Xi Jinping shows that the Philippines can stand against China.

Is Robredo aware the case filed was grossly inappropriate and the venue in which it was filed was extremely wrong?

And that the act of filing that particular case did not highlight our patriotic sense but showcased our stupidity?

This is not the words of wisdom we expect to hear from the second highest official of the land.