PHILIPPINES, March 18 - Press Release
March 18, 2023

STATEMENT OF SENATOR RISA HONTIVEROS ON ICC ARREST WARRANT VS. PRESIDENT PUTIN

The arrest warrant for President Putin is a strong message to the global community that the world will not idly watch while war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity are being committed within territories of individual countries.

Moscow may continue to argue that the warrants are moot, but member-states to the ICC are dutybound to arrest those upon whom warrants are served when they come into the territory of an ICC member-state. This already severely curtails movement of perpetrators. Further, Kyiv has accepted the jurisdiction of the ICC over crimes on its territory.

And who knows if a future Kremlin leader decides that it is in their interest to give up Putin to the ICC. Di ba ito ang nangyari kay Slobodan Milosevic?

I can only hope that there is something to be learned from this. To those who continue to deny justice to victims of State-sponsored abuses, including the excesses of a failed Drug War, consider this fair warning. "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice."