generally been the object of criticism in this regard, . ,: a genuine and overwhelming mandate from -^-: people, not just from Carci, that can usher in the reality is, in the instances of miscarriages of -^:se tremendous achievements that justice, all the pillars of the criminal justice system are collectively to blame. And l'm sorry to say this, before - -:ngthen the normative character of lnternational --manitarian Law in a domestic legal system. --i who represent different pillars of the criminal justice system but it will have to be said. despite all these accomplishments, I stand today The police, sometimes, not allthe time, failto investigate you also in awe with the tremendous tasks .:^,d challenges ahead of us. While the passage of ^e IHL Law, and the ratlfication of the Rome Statute ' tCC as well as the ratification of the First Additional :'otocol to the Ceneva Convention have bound us '-.fther to uphold the non-derogable principles of IHL ::d lnternational Criminal Law, in truth and in fact .-lr burden to discharge our obligations under the :'inciple that the state must investigate and punish ^ose who commit international crimes, can only be -ischarged if our domestic legal system is able to -restigate, prosecute and punish ihose who commit . <iore and apprehend suspected perpetrators ofthese crimes, the prosecution for their failure to assist the police in investigating these crimes, the coutts, notorious for delays and even the community for already accepting these delays and other miscarrlages of justice as part of daily lives. And while we acknowledge the destruction of our criminal justice system was the handiwork of the past dispensation, the tasks of governance demand, that it is this administration that should now rebuild these damaged institutions' .',ar crimes and crimes against humanity. we have experience with prosecutions of -st ordinary murder cases, such as the Ampatuan -assacre case, the Doc Jerry Ortega case, the - everyone ready, the unresolved torture and .:forced disappearance of lonas Burgos, the three >,zr.TriC scholars who disappeared ironically in what s supposed to be the premises of Terminal 3 of NAIA - January of this year. And even the disappearance ' prominent lawyer Atty. Frank Joe Zulueta, who S nayog torture case and I Let us perhaps now improve the capacity of the Philippine National Police to utilize forensic evidence, rather than to rely on testimonial evidence in the prosecution of crimes covered by the IHL law. Testimonial evidence, after all in this country, is often very cheap to procure or is readily available through resorting to torture. Let us demand from the National Prosecution Seruice a better conviction rate for extralegal killings. The current rate is 1olo and this is according to an Asia Foundation Study conducted by Atty AI Pareno. Let us conduct a dialogue with .rderstand is even a fraternity brother and classmate the judiciary and discuss if we should instead adopt the European lnquisitorial system where it is the -e tremendous structural challenge facing our -:tion today. The Ampatuan Massacre prosecution - ghlights the failure of the state to accord victims of -e gruesome massacre an effective remedy under -rmestic law which together with the duty to pay rmpensation are state obligations, where it has ':,led to protect and promote the right to life. Judge that gathers the evidence in the resolution of a dispute, rather than the current American adversarial -ere can only be an effective remedy under lHL. - when the system that we have, with the Judge as a passive recipient of evidence adduced by the parties- Let us all consider the possibilities in order to hasten the administration of justice in this country, for in the end it is only through a working criminal justice system that we can truly discharge our treaty obligations -,rsecution results in a conviction within a reasonable re. While reasonable time will vary from jurisdiction jurisdiction there is now a looming consensus that - democratic systems wiih working legal systems, the -:.?rdge trial of the accused in a case as prominent :. the Ampatuan case should not go on for as long .. it already has today. And while our courts have Let us synchronize too our foreign policy with our treaty obligations. Recently the international community expressed its condemnation of the crime against humanity being perpetrated against the Syrian people by its own government The dilemma in Syria is because legal resort to force can be had >oceedings of the Second National Summit on International Humanitarian Law in the Philippines L1 December 20L2 E