FIRST PROPOSITION SPEAKER

We will tackle the different issues that the Government and President Duterte is currently facing
right now, particularly the issue(s) on the unilateral withdrawal of the President from the International
Criminal Court (ICC). My contention is that their is NO PARTICULAR PROVISION IN THE CONSTITUTION
NOR ANY LAW providing or mandating or allowing the President to have the sole authority to withdraw
into any treaty or international agreement that was validly ratified by the Senate.
The Senate has a say or word in the termination of any treaty and international agreement.
Under the DOCTRINE OF SEPARATION OF POWERS, it rest on the assumption that the three great
powers of the government must not be concentrated on the hands of one man or a group of men, it
follows that the three branches of the government must discharge their respective functions within the
limits of their authority. Under the CHECK AND BALANCE SYSTEM, each of the three branches of the
government checks or limits the powers of the others and thus one branch cannot be so powerful as to
dominate the others.
The POWER OR AUTHORITY TO MAKE LAWS AND TO ALTER AND REPEAL THEM is vested in the
Congress of the Philippines which consist of the Senate and a House of Representative.
Now, the question is---IS THE WITHDRAWAL INTO A TREATY AND INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENT
CONSTITUTES A LEGISLATIVE FUNCTION? My answer in in the AFFIRMATIVE because it is within the
purview of “ ALTERING AND REPEALING A LAW”.
AFRICAN CASE___________________, research ko pa ito..
The action of the President in withdrawing from the ICC is just a mere afterthought due to the
probability of his prosecution in the ICC.
It started when Atty. Sabio lawyer of self-confessed hitman Edgar Matobato submitted a 77 page
communication to Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda of the ICC. He charged the President and other
officials of having committed a mass murder or extrajudicial executions constituting a crime against
humanity. Duterte’s war on drugs he claimed,” have brought deaths to not less than 1,400 individuals in
Davao City and more than 8,000 in his national war on drugs, respectively.
Duterte has moved to withdraw the Philippines from the ICC but it will not affect Bensouda’s
preliminary examination.
Again the UNILATERAL WITHDRWAL OF THE PRESIDENT IN THE ICC is groundless and baseless.

CLASSMATES HERE ARE MY SUGGESTION ON THE SPS TOPICS, FEEL FREE TO ADD OR SUGGEST SO THAT
WE CAN MAKE A GOOD DEBATE ON THURSDAY:

SPS 1 -rebut FOS

-discuss the validity of the ratification of the treaty even without publication
-the jurisdiction of the ICC to prosecute Duterte even if the withdrawal in the ICC court is
presumably valid
-discuss your position on the issue whether or not the withdrawal in the ICC is a political or
constitutional question
SPS2 -rebut SOS
-discuss or infuse the issue on crime against humanity. Define and site the elements of the
crime
-discuss the responsibility of Duterte as a commander in chief in relation to his drug campaign,
discuss and argue on the principle of command responsibility. See section 10 of RA
9851(Responsibility of Superiors)
SPS3 -rebut SOS
 - make an argument that the President is not or should not be ABSOLUTELY immune from
any suit.
- site cases that the President is not absolutely immune from suit

PRS -SUMMARY